Tim Martin: Passing the blame for binge drinking to supermarkets is a bad idea
Received opinion within the pub trade is that the buck for irresponsible drinking can be passed to supermarkets, based on super-low pricing policies.
However, the pub trade was repeatedly investigated by the competition authorities from the 1960s onwards as a result of Government apprehension that brewers and pubs operated a monopoly enabling them to push up beer prices beyond the level of inflation, with adverse implications for inflation itself, mortgage rates and the general economy.
These investigations culminated in the Beer Orders of 1988, which proposed radical legislation whereby major brewers were divested of many of their pubs, in the hope that this would increase competition.
In due course, free-trade legislation in Europe resulted in unlimited alcohol imports from France, bringing downward pressure to bear, especially on the off-trade, but also on pubs. Supermarkets responded aggressively to the Calais threat and reduced their prices, stemming the flow of imports and increasing their share of drinks supplies at the expense of pubs.
The problem facing the pub trade now is thatcampaigns criticising the pricing policies of supermarkets fly in the face of general European and Government policy, which strives to increase consumers' prosperity by keeping prices as low as possible.
Does anyone really believe that pushing up prices in the off-trade will reduce the cultural problems of binge drinking? Some people might, but price does not seem to be an issue for most people at occasions such as stag and hen parties, birthdays and celebrations of sporting victories - and we already have the highest excise duty rates in Europe.
If the Government accepts the pub trade's argument that price is relevant to binge drinking, it will simply increase excise duty over the years to the disadvantage of pubs - and the great advantage of supermarkets. Excise duty amounts to a relatively high proportion of the total costs for hosts, but is only a tiny proportion of the costs of supermarkets.
The pub trade has a dilemma: we live in an era of incredibly-competitive supermarkets, which have helped to raise the standard of living of everyone by reducing the price we pay for day-to-day goods. Most people also instinctively understand that binge drinking is a cultural issue, which has been exacerbated by a draconian clampdown on underage drinking in pubs, driving teenagers to consume more alcohol in the unsupervised environment of parties, town squares and beaches.
In these circumstances, pubs criticising supermarkets appears self-serving. Adults in Britain, including Government ministers, judges and magistrates, started drinking, usually relatively weak beer, in pubs at the age of 15 or 16.
Problems have been exacerbated by driving this generation into the street by an obsessive crackdown on pubs. Trying to shift blame to supermarkets, who do an excellent overall job for consumers, is not an argument that will produce a good result for pubs.
