Local newpapers may name and shame rogue licensees

Rogue licensees who sell cheaper or inferior spirits to unsuspecting customers could be named and shamed in their local newspaper.

In the run-up to the busy festive period, trading standards officers are clamping down on unscrupulous licensees who pour cheaper or inferior spirits into branded bottles, water down spirits or simply serve different brands to the ones ordered by the customer.

Many local authorities have pledged to inform the local press of any prosecutions in a bid to deter licensees who carry out such practices.

Over the last 18 months there have been more than 200 cases that have been successfully prosecuted or are waiting to go to court.

The International Federation of Spirit Producers is backing this latest crackdown. Spokesman Philip Scatchard said: "The vast majority of the UK's licensees are professional and law-abiding. But there are a few bad apples out there giving the rest a bad name. By working with trading standards we aim to catch them and, whenever possible, prosecute."

Any licensee caught passing off or watering down spirits faces a heavy fine.

In one recent case, the licensee of a Manchester hotel was fined £989 after trading standards officers found spirits on display in his pub that were not genuine.

At Manchester Crown Court, Joseph McGuiness, licensee of The Birch Hotel in Ashton, admitted false labels had been applied to an optic bottle that was supposed to contain Smirnoff vodka, while another bottle was falsely labelled Bacardi Superior rum.

In a similar case, a Bradford licensee was ordered to pay £400 last month after being found guilty of substituting genuine Smirnoff with another vodka.

Licensees are also being warned that they could face prosecution for their employees' actions. Rita Steele, who runs the Beehive pub in Bartholomew Street, London, pleaded guilty after laboratory analysis proved that two bottles of Vodka bearing Smirnoff labels and two bottles labelled Gordon's did not contain the genuine article.

She blamed her barstaff for topping up the branded bottles with cheaper house spirits but was still held responsible by Camberwell Green Magistrates.