THE GUV'NOR

Nigel Anstead

The licensee of the White Horse in

Bedford, argues that this year's negative Budget will simply drive more people into the supermarkets in search of cheap booze

This year's Budget was a knee-jerk reaction to the negative headlines surrounding alcohol and UK drinking culture over the last few months. The problem is not in the pubs - and yet we're going to be forced to put up our prices, driving people into the supermarkets for cheap booze. The normal people that go to the pub are clearly not the problem - it's the youngsters and problem drinkers who get their drink cheaply from the supermarkets. And the supermarkets won't even have to raise prices as a result of the Budget.

The other day there were some 19-year-olds drinking in my pub, they'd had a few drinks and I stopped serving them pints and put some jugs of water on the table, in an hour's time they were fine, so I served them another beer and they stayed on for a quiz. It's under control. Supermarkets couldn't hope to enforce that level of responsible drinks retailing.

If some people that are just old enough to drink come into the pub and order, say four vodka and colas, on the fifth we might say, I'm sorry, but I think you've had enough now. But those same young people can go down to Tesco, buy a bottle of vodka for £10 and neck it in half an hour.

If anything, the Chancellor's Budget will make that scenario even more likely.

Pub licensees have control over what they're doing and are going to have to put up their prices. We'll feel even more expensive and the supermarkets are going to seem even cheaper. The binge drinking culture will not be solved. I really did think that they'd do something to really make the supermarkets sit up, think and act responsibly. They did actually come close to doing something sensible with the new plastic-bag rules.

But they've really hurt the pub trade this time - we've got enough problems at the moment, which I'm sure I don't need to outline here.

Alistair Darling is not stupid - he's the Chancellor of the Exchequer - so he must know about the plight of pubs; how many are closing a week and the challenges that every facet of the trade faces. I don't understand why he didn't just give us a break.