Trade blasts "binge" website

Licensees have blasted a controversial website which they claim promotes binge-drinking and lists their premises without their consent.

Pissed.co.uk advertises itself as a "survival guide to beer, kebabs and women" and in its directory lists hundreds of pubs and bars across the country.

The site has also incurred the wrath of InBev UK, as it uses images of its brand Stella Artois. The company is now acting against the site to have the images removed. "They are there without our knowledge or consent," an InBev spokesperson said.

Alison Smith, licensee at Bar One Nine, in Keynsham, Somerset, found her pub was on the site after doing a Google search. "I'm really upset that we've appeared on this website without our consent. I think the pub industry in general suffers from these sorts of websites," she complained.

"It goes against everything that The Publican's Proud of Pubs campaign is about."

Robbie Cullen, licensee at the Coach and Horses, on Fleet Street, in London, was also unaware his pub was listed. "I'm really not happy about being associated with a website like this," he said. "We are a responsible drinking pub and all my staff work hard at keeping it that way. We have lots of posters advertising the Drinkaware campaign."

Lou Hogg of the Old Crown, in Hesket Newmarket, Cumbria, said: "It looks tacky and I'm really not happy about it. Publicans have a responsibility not to promote this sort of thing."

Alongside a list of recommended pubs and bars the site also offers a list of "adult venues" and shows a picture of a kebab with the caption "the pissed ritual".

Lancashire-based brewer Thwaites was alerted to the site after a complaint from one of its licensees. Retail director Paul Howarth said he was "staggered" by the site. "I don't want our pubs to be associated with this misuse of alcohol, that's not what we're about," he said. He also pointed that the list of facilities his pubs offered was incorrect.

The site also received condemnation from the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA). Mark Hastings, the BBPA's communications director, said: "It would be preferable if this site put forward the pleasures of social drinking rather than the tired old images of drunkenness."

All efforts by The Publican to contact Result Media Ltd, the company behind the site, have proved fruitless.