Martin: Blame celebs for binge culture
JD Wetherspoon supreme Tim Martin has taken a swipe at drunken celebrities and sports stars for setting a bad example to youngsters.
Martin said that there were underlying cultural and social issues behind Britain's binge drinking culture.
"This is demonstrated by examples of poor behaviour by a number of celebrities during the recent televised Brit Awards and by habitual drunken celebrations in the context of sporting events and other occasions, which then receive huge press coverage," he said.
"This sort of behaviour is not a new phenomenon, and is frequently replicated by the general public during birthday parties, stag and hen parties and so on."
And Martin was at pains to stress to politicians and the national media that pubs do not benefit from this kind of drinking.
"Although it is often perceived that pubs benefit from these sorts of occasions, it is our experience that they are often bad for the pub trade, since they are difficult for pub staff to deal with and can be intimidating for the majority of customers."
Martin believes that the Government-led campaigns to keep under-18s out of pubs is unlikely to work because most anti-social behaviour is committed by older age groups.
He said Wetherspoon was leading the way against binge drinking by serving food and coffee for longer hours than anyone else.
He added: "The correct approach for the authorities, in our opinion, as in the case of the generally successful campaigns over drink driving, is to concentrate on the message that pubs and drinking are legitimate activities, but they bring an obligation to behave responsibly.
"The current effort to prevent under 18 year olds drinking is likely to fail, since it is difficult to enforce, especially since almost all parents permit these age groups to drink."
