On and off seek responsible solution

Last week, the Morning Advertiser and its sister publication, Off Licence News, held their second all-day conference on the subject of Responsible Drinks Retailing. Nigel Huddleston reports on the major issues covered at the conference.

No issue around the responsible retailing of alcohol has split the on and off-trade like price promotions - and the divisions were clearly visible at the conference.

Tesco category director for beers, wines and spirits Dan Jago sought to defend supermarkets' cut-throat prices by arguing that "it is clear to us retailers that the price of alcohol isn't directly responsible" for binge drinking.

He added: "Most alcohol purchases in supermarkets are made by families, stored [at home] and then consumed over a period of time."

Ultimate Leisure chairman Mark Jones described it as "fantastic" and "about time" that the off-trade was receiving flak for promotions that sometimes saw alcohol being sold at less than cost price.

JD Wetherspoon operations director Nathan Wall said his company had sought to discourage upsells, cheap shot chasers, happy hours and doubles promotions - in short, anything that could persuade individuals to increase their consumption.

"If people want twice the [amount of] alcohol, they have to be prepared to pay twice the price," he said, although he added that price did not hold the key to tackling binge drinking.

"Some Norwegian cities are pretty similar to our own experience at 2am on a Saturday morning, so it's clearly not about price."

Adrian McKeon, managing director of Beam Global in the UK, called for a more united industry front against binge drinking.

"It's much wider than just Tesco's price points," he said.

"We need to look at ways to change consumer behaviour to bring about the same sort of societal change that we've seen with issues such as smoking and seat belts.

"Society tolerates alcohol abuse, but it doesn't have to be like that. People now flash their lights if they see someone using a mobile phone while they're driving because they won't put up with it.

"That's the sort of societal change the alcohol industry must try to engender."

Drinkaware Trust: an independent educational resource

The role and funding aims of the new Drinkaware Trust were outlined by interim chief executive officer Kevin Byrne.

He emphasised that the body had independent status and was not a lobbying organisation for the drinks industry or anyone else.

"We cherish the fact that we are independent," he said. "We are not beholden to the Government or the industry."

Drinkaware's brief is to provide education resources to increase awareness of alcohol misuse and changing attitudes and behaviour.

Byrne said: "Drinkaware is the primary source of

information among quite a

lot of organisations that are dabbling in this area.

"But Drinkaware won't be taking a policy stance and we are not looking to replicate the self-regulatory role of other industry bodies."

Pubcos will be expected to contribute between £600,000 and £800,000 each year to Drinkaware funds by 2010, out of a total budget of about £5m.

The rest of the funding will come from domestic drinks producers, wine companies and off-trade retailers.

One of Drinkaware's supporters, Diageo, revealed that from May it will roll out nationally two responsible-drinking ads, first aired late last year.

Diageo corporate relations director Vicki Nobles said:

"Responsible drinking is at the core of our business strategy." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xx x xxxx xx x x xx xx xx xx x x xxx xx xx xxxx xxxxxxx

Creative ways to dampen extreme behaviour

Solutions ranging from changing the product mix to use of reverse psychology by door staff have been offered as ways of creating a more responsible retailing environment in pubs.

Chief Inspector Adrian Studd, representing the Association of Chief Police Officers, called for town and city-centre venues to re-think their approaches to design and atmosphere in order to appeal to a broader clientele.

He said: "What we'd like to see in town and city centres is more mixed use - young and old, men and women. This mix tends to have a dampening effect on extreme behaviour."

Details such as the choice of music could be as important as drinks prices in preventing disorder, he added.

"It's often the style of music that attracts the problems," he said. "Premises often don't know what they're getting into when they take on some of these promoters."

JD Wetherspoon operations director Nathan Wall said the chain's coffee sales were higher than its Budweiser sales. It encouraged mixed use of its pubs by emphasising products such as cask ale that appeal to an older audience.

"It's rarely found in some of our main

competitors these days, but without it you only appeal to a very narrow demographic," he said.

But it's the details beyond the product range that help make a difference to a pub's atmosphere, Wall told the conference.

He said: "A well-maintained, clean pub can have a positive impact on customers. We only have well-trained managers who work less than 48 hours a week, so quite simply, they're not knackered. Running a pub is a complicated business - you can only be on your game and motivated to do it effectively if you're not under extra stress.

"We pay £21m a year in bonuses and 40% of that is linked to issues such as cleanliness, quality and service. Our bar staff are given no financial incentives to sell more alcohol."

But Wall warned against falling into the

trap of thinking that solutions such as door supervisors and plastic glasses are a panacea.

"Put door supervisors in high visibility jackets and customers will probably wonder what sort of place you're operating."