LETTERs

Tough action to combat bingeing

I write with regard to the general hand-wringing over binge/underage drinking that is now a plague on all of our houses.

This is a direct consequence of local councils issuing way too many alcohol licences; within a couple of hundred metres of my shop there are eight retail outlets selling the blessed stuff. Too many for the potential amount of custom. Thus the price is kept artificially low. The wretched six for £5.00 on most beers has been at that price for more than five years. Usually cartels work to keep the price high, but not this one. Welcome to the cartel of the stupid and self destructive.

Under these conditions it is not so surprising that underage people are able to buy alcohol; they are, in fact, subsidising the older drinkers. I have, on occasion, turned away over £40 to £50 in business within the space of an hour only to see the same people walking past my shop with bags full of drinks.

I propose a solution:

1. The Government states that no more alcohol licences (on or off) are to be issued. Let's face it, we don't need any more

2. The licence belongs to the holder, to do with what he/she likes. Thus if Beefeater, for example, wants to open a restaurant and sell alcohol then it will need to buy a licence from an existing holder, who, of course, forfeits the right to sell alcohol. The licence is now a very saleable commodity and definitely worth protecting. This is a juicy carrot indeed and like all juicy carrots comes with a big stick.

3. Any licence holder found selling to underage people (three times, for example, and not within any time frame either) automatically loses the licence permanently. The licence reverts to the council who can sell it to the highest bidder.

This would eventually lead to the majority of off-licences selling their licences and in their place other retail outlets would appear. Those that remain would be very healthy businesses and have no desire to sell to the underage drinkers to make ends meet. This is a win-win situation for all concerned.

Mark Quinn

Waltham Cross Off Licence, Waltham Cross, Herts

Where is the pubcos' help?

In response to the issues raised in the MA recently regarding rents and the lack of help given by the pubcos, our own situation is probably typical of many new licensees in that we were told the trade was significantly higher than has actually been the case.

Trade appears to be 66% down on last year, yet our pubco now wants to increase our rent by 50% from £14,000 per annum to £21,000 per annum. This will certainly finish this pub off as we are currently operating at a loss, yet our pubco does absolutely nothing to help. Our business relationship manager comes along, talks the talk for 30 minutes or so then goes again promising this that and the other, but fails to do anything to help.

The prices charged by our pubco are higher than the wholesaler on many items, but we cannot buy from anyone else because of the tie. When a mistake is made by the pubco they try their absolute hardest to avoid rectifying the situation, especially when it involves them giving back money (the last example was a £2,500-plus overcharge that took six weeks to get back).

Our turnover is between £1,600 and £2,300 per week, yet they expect us to pay £360-plus in rent! We have one staff member left working one shift, other than that my wife, my daughter and I run the pub on a combined wage of £220 per week - hardly a living wage for a 12 to 13-hour trading day!

Name and address supplied