Third operator does all-inclusive
A third well-known nightclub operator is running an all-inclusive drinks deal, the Morning Advertiser has learned.
Brook Leisure, which operates Livingstone's nightclub in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, is offering a £10 all-you-can drink promotion on a Saturday night. The offer runs between 10pm and 2am and strict rules are in place: shots are not included, customers must return their glass to the bar before they can get a new drink, only single spirits, mixers and bottled drinks are included.
Chesterfield Borough Council knows about the promotion and has authorised it.
Drinks discounting is rife in Chesterfield. Elements nightclub, operated by Broxbourne Leisure, offers an 89p admission charge, and drinks at 89p all night on Fridays. Operations manager Jim Kelly said: "Such offers represent the dire state of the market, and show how us licensed premises operators are scrapping for our existence against supermarket deals."
Drinks discounted to only 60p were advertised on Nexum's Escapade nightclub website, but a spokesman said this was "just an error", and that drinks were actually retailing at £1.25.
Local licensee Keith Bannister thinks such promotions encourage irresponsible drinking and raised the matter during a meeting on 17 October with Licensing Minister Gerry Sutcliffe.
Bannister also sent a letter to Chesterfield Borough Council on 4 November urging them to "please explain why are you are allowing this (irresponsible alcohol marketing) to happen and why are you not enforcing your powers?" He has not yet received a response.
'Our drinks deals work out to be triple the cost of drinking at home'Bill Muirhead, operations director, Brook Leisure
"We have been running a £10 all-inclusive promotion for the past six weeks in Chesterfield. This is in response to supermarkets' increased discounting. Only this week one of our managers reported that he purchased Beck's bottles at Morrisons at 45p a bottle.
"While it has captured many headlines, the 'all-inclusive' promotion on average serves six drinks per attendee, which in this case equates to £1.66 per drink. This is over three and a half times the cost of drinking at home. Furthermore this is in a supervised environment.
"As responsible operators, we informed the relevant authorities that we were going to conduct this promotion beforehand, and explained how we would manage such a session to ensure that the promotion runs without incident. This includes tight admission control, rigorous checks on age and only one drink per person at a time.
"We work closely with the police and other operators and through schemes such as pubwatch have had much success in reducing town-centre crime, which we understand continues to fall.
"The same cannot be said of domestic crime, and while it would be simplistic and inaccurate to solely lay the blame on increased unsupervised drinking at home it must pay a contributing factor.
"We note the MA's report on the 'all-inclusive' promotion in Newport last week and thank you for the first piece of unbiased reporting on such a session."
