LETTERs

Strike a healthy price balance

I am sending this letter to the Morning Advertiser as your editor, Andrew Pring, is probably best placed to make appropriate noises

in the right quarters, such as Parliament, British Beer & Pub Association, national press, etc.

Lying awake at night, as one does occasionally, it occurred to me that as long as an enormous disparity continues to exist between supermarket (and pubco) buying prices and those charged by the on-trade, any tax hike that is introduced will simply hit the pubs harder than anyone else, while simultaneously driving the binge-drinkers straight into the hands of the supermarkets.

Has anyone suggested using VAT as the mechanism? Off-sales could be levied at, say 20% (or more) and on-sales kept at 17.5%, or even reduced.

After all, there is no VAT on takeaway food. With drink, it would be exactly the opposite. In fact, having said that, there is a good case for fitting takeaway food into the same category as alcohol - after all, eating on the run is anti-social and results in litter. It's defined as one of the "ugly" aspects of Britain - and it's unhealthy.

Bringing both these trends back to an "on-sales" scenario would solve a lot of problems and would be easy enough to legislate.

This would not necessarily have to apply to home delivery. If you think it through, there don't seem to be any downsides.

Mike Bell

owner, Portobello Gold,

Notting Hill, London W11

Time to take responsibility

I firmly believe that allowing a 16-year-old to drink in a controlled, supervised environment is preferable to letting a 16-year-old drink in a place that is uncontrolled and unsupervised, such as the supermarket car park or local park.

We should commit ourselves to the following two things at the same time. Firstly, raise the age to buy alcohol for consumption off the premises to 21 years, and increase the penalties, for members of the public as well as retailers, for supplying alcohol to people under 21 years of age for consumption in any public place other than in properly licensed premises.

This would technically include those few irresponsible parents who happily allow their youngsters to take alcohol from the home.

Then, and only then, take steps to allow licensed premises to apply for variation to their premises licence to permit the supply of alcohol to people aged between 16 and 21.

This move would allow the local authorities to place such conditions as were felt appropriate for individual pubs - but could also permit a responsible adult, such as a parent, to buy alcohol for their 16-year-old child.

Andrew Brooks

via email

Spending an ethical penny

Re your article about pubs being paid £1,000 for opening their toilets to public, (www.morningadvertiser.co.uk, 7 February 2008)

I would never dream of going into any commercial establishment, whether it's a pub, cafe or a shop - just to use their toilet, without making a purchase of some kind - of course I'd prefer to go to a pub, where I could have a pint of beer or glass of white wine!

Surely local Government could better spend its money on truly public facilities - after all, going into a pub to use the loo may conflict with some people's religious principles.

Where I live in Brussels, Belgium, there are very few public conveniences, because someone in power decided some years ago that they encouraged immorality!

Janice Booth

via forum