Unhappy times

As the government turns its attention to binge-drinking it looks like the majority of responsible operators could face a raft of regulations because of the irresponsible minority. Adam Withrington reports.

We are six weeks into the new year and what have we learned? Nothing new really; you can have your day in court but still be mistrusted (just ask Tony Blair), you can flash your assets on live TV and finally get the attention you are looking for (just ask Jordan), and, oh yes, you can get blamed for a problem that has much wider causes (just ask the pub industry).

The trade has been heavily criticised by the government, councils and the police for creating an increasingly violent and drunken society through happy hours and other drinks promotions.

Last week The Publican reported that councils in Manchester, London and Aberdeen were planning to follow in the footsteps of Glasgow and Dundee and purge happy hours. The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has published an alcohol strategy for the capital and one of its recommendations also included a clampdown on happy hours.

It turns out the Prime Minister is thinking along the same lines. Last week a cabinet minister is reported to have told The Sunday Times: "Tony Blair's view on this is hardening by the day. It is supposed to be "happy hour", but often goes on for far longer, with two-for-one priced drinks and promotions leading to kids getting drunk very quickly."

The government says alcohol costs the country £20bn a year through drink-related crime, lost days at work and NHS treatment. Figures released by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) last month showed that drunken assaults and woundings had risen by up to 70 per cent.

Senior police officers have since laid the blame squarely at the feet of the pub industry and the huge rise in new bars and pubs on the high street.

Geoff Anderson, acting head of CID at Avon & Somerset, said: "Because drinking is crammed into short periods of time such as happy hours, violence escalates when drinkers are thrown out on to the streets."

Government, councils and the police all assume this rise in violent crime and the large clean-up bill is the fault of pubs and the drinks promotions they run. But anyone who has been to their local supermarket recently will have one question to throw at the government - what about the huge promotions in supermarkets and off-licences? Last Christmas it was possible to buy a pack of 20 cans of a premium brand lager for under £10. If ever there was an excuse to binge-drink, that must surely have been it.

Steve Thomas, chief executive of late-night operator Luminar, told The Publican last month: "Controls on promotions would help the responsible operators compete with the rogues. But it wouldn't do anything to tackle the real problem, which is that customers are drunk when they arrive on our doorstep because they've been drinking at home or in the street."

I would agree. As a student only two years ago, the tactic of getting tanked up on the cheap, with bulk-buy cans of lager or unheard-of commodity bottles of vodka from our local supermarket, was gladly accepted. We would then head out to a pub or late-night venue, so the only money we would have to spend would be on one or two drinks or the entrance fee.

Mark Hastings, director of communications at the British Beer & Pub Association, said: "The trade has to compete against supermarkets all week. From Monday to Thursday people buy cheap booze and a microwave meal and stay at home and on weekends they are fuelling up on the cheap booze before they go out. This is a vital point that must be addressed."

Licensee Pete Harrison, of the Leek, Staffordshire, said: "Every publican agrees if you want to sort out the binge-drinking problem, you have to go back the old system, where booze is only available in a pub or off-licence. Breweries have sold their soul to the supermarket and we cannot cope."

Caroline Nodder, spokeswoman for the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII), says that investigations carried out by the BII and Customs & Excise have shown the existence of a secret off-trade, with smuggled booze widely available at knockdown prices. "It is totally unregulated," she says. "Cheap booze is sold on the estates through windows and is easily available to underage kids."

But this is not to excuse the trade from its responsibilities either. The industry must continue with its efforts to regulate itself and act sensibly. If it does not, the government could take action.

Only last September, Stephen Haupt, chief executive of Regent Inns, the high street operator whose brands include Walkabout and Jongleurs, said: "If we don't do something about it [drinks promotions] someone will make us do something that we do not want to do."

However, it is surely unfortunate timing, as far as the industry is concerned, when only three days before The Sunday Times article Mr Haupt announced the extension of midweek "happy hour" drinking in in his venues, in order to fight off fierce competition on the high street.

Regent Inns may have felt forced into this position but it does give out mixed messages; the government needs to be convinced that the industry can regulate itself.

Perhaps I am being unrealistic; individual business interests will always win out. Maybe the way forward is to focus on getting rid of rogue operators - something Enterprise Inns' chief executive Ted Tuppen refers to in his letter to the home secretary David Blunkett.

Simon Kaye, commercial director at Regent Inns, says: "Our two-for-one promotions cost close to £3 per drink. The problems really start when the prices are 90p to £1 per drink - something we won't do. That kind of behaviour, mainly from operators who belong to no trade organisation, invites attention from government and legislators."

Industry efforts​

Examples of how the industry is acting more responsibly:

• Diageo introduced a national sensible drinking advertising campaign in July last year. It has informed pub companies that it does not want its products involved with silly promotions
• Coors brewers launched a sensible drinking campaign with its Carling brand, using Celtic and Rangers football managers, Martin O'Neil and Alex McLeish respectively, to push the message
• Cains brewery puts sensible drinking messages on its bottles
• Drinks giant Allied Domecq includes sensible drinking messages on its brands.

Happy hours​

The British Beer & Pub Association has offered some guidance on how happy hours should be run responsibly. It suggests that pub owners and licensees:

• provide food and snacks during early-evening happy hours as people are likely to be drinking on an empty stomach at those times
• stretch happy "hour" over a longer period of time to discourage people from binge-drinking
• avoid any drinking games that have a speed incentive
• entry fees entitling customers to free or reduced price drinks should be avoided
• include soft drinks in happy hour price reductions
• all promotional activity for alcoholic drinks should comply with British codes of advertising and sales promotions and with relevant parts of The Portman Group code of practice.