Stars of sensible selling

It was a pleasure judging our Responsible Drinks Retailing Awards last week. There were so many examples of highly-professional licensees and pubcos doing the right thing when it comes to selling alcohol sensibly, and just as many examples in the off-trade too.

As a way of showing politicians, policemen and the public that the drinks trade can be trusted to know and carry out its social obligations, the awards are proving invaluable ­ and the Morning Advertiser and sister title Off Licence News will be publicising the good works as widely as we can over the next few months.

One initiative that particularly caught the eye was Yates's Bar Safe scheme, which is due to be implemented from November. Its many sensible approaches to promotions, pricing and training are all exemplary, but what showed that Yates is really serious about promoting sensible drinking is that it will withhold the annual bonus from the manager of any bar that has not been run "in a safe, responsible manner".

Now that is a pretty heavy message to its staff. And given the importance of hitting the personal bonus, managers are bound to try even harder to monitor responsible drinking in their bar ­ and make sure staff do too.

It's a great idea. And it's one that all other managed chains should impose, if they haven't already. What better way to show you're really serious about this most serious of issues.

It's a shame the Government isn't doing something equally positive to promote sensible drinking.

It's nearly a year now since the Portman Group asked for a national TV campaign aimed at encouraging people to drink sensibly. If the Labour government in the 1960s felt it was worth spending public money to stamp out drink-driving, why doesn't this one feel able to support the trade's efforts to stamp out binge drinking? Waving a big stick at the trade may appeal to vote-conscious politicians, but it seems a very short-sighted approach to a problem that can't be solved by the drinks trade alone.