'Pubs close at rate of 36 a week'

One in six pubs will close by 2012 - hit by the credit crunch, the smoking ban and drinkers turning to cheap supermarket booze. Thirty-six are already shutting every week, with thousands of staff losing their jobs and many communities losing long-established focal points. In the next four years at least 6,000 more face going to the wall. Market research firm CGA Strategy, which carried out the survey, says the smoking ban and the credit crunch have driven many former regulars to stay at home drinking cheaper booze from supermarkets. CGA said it was a case of survival of the fittest - "the weakest operators will cease to exist." Campaign For Real Ale spokesman Iain Loe said: "This is the death of a centuries' old British institution. - Sunday Mirror​

More than 10,000 people have signed a petition against a bid to raise the age for buying booze in Scottish shops. Ministers want to increase the age for buying alcohol in off-licences and supermarkets from 18 to 21 after growing concern over Scotland's drinking culture. But the move has provoked an angry response from students and young people across the country. The Coalition Against Raising the Drinking Age in Scotland warned it could backfire and increase alcohol abuse. - Glasgow Sunday Mail​

Controversial plans to ban under-21s from buying alcohol north of the border are set to be reined in following massive protests by retailers, students and political parties. Senior Scottish Government figures are considering a less draconian approach, whereby local authorities would raise the drinking age in areas where underage binge drinking is found. - Scotland On Sunday​

Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill warned people not to expect the government to scrap its plans for under-21 drinking. The case for action on problem drinking was clear, he said, and efforts to get round the new rules, such as cross-border bootlegging, will not deter the authorities from clamping down where necessary. MacAskill said the Scottish government would work with its UK counterpart to deter 'white van man' from selling cheap booze into the country - Observer​