Pub promotions clampdown confirmed in Queen's Speech

Licensees are facing the prospect of another new raft of tough measures after government plans for a new mandatory code of practice for the drinks industry were confirmed today.

A ban on "all-you-can-drink" promotions and offers that only apply to certain groups, such as women, are among the proposals included in the Policing and Crime Bill unveiled in the Queen's Speech.

This is in addition to a new £4.5m crackdown on alcohol-fuelled crime and disorder.

Other potential measures include forcing pubs to "have the minimum sized glasses available for those who want them", making sure customers see the unit content of all drinks they buy and checking staff are "properly trained".

Meanwhile councils could be given powers to ban happy hours, drinking games or organised pub crawls, depending on the the outcome of a government consultation.

Any licensee breaching the code could be stripped of their licence, face a £20,000 fine or six months in prison.

The government is also getting tougher on underage sales with the three-strikes-and-you're-out rule being reduced to two strikes in three months.

The British Beer & Pub Association branded the code an "unnecessary, disproportionate and costly red-tape burden on well-run community pubs".

However, the off-trade has not totally escaped. Supermarkets will have to ensure customers are "not required to buy very large amounts of a product to take advantage of price discounts". The Home Office was unable to offer a better explanation of this, although the measure is thought to be targeted at "three-for-two" and "two-for-one" deals.

And Health Secretary Alan Johnson said there may yet be action on below-cost selling.

"Low-cost alcohol is clearly linked to increased consumption and harm, so I'm not ruling out taking action on very cheap alcohol, such as alcohol sold below cost price," he said.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said: "I don't want to stop the vast majority of people who enjoy alcohol and drink responsibly from doing so but we all face a cost from alcohol-related disorder and I have a duty to crack down on irresponsible promotions that can fuel excessive drinking and lead people into crime and disorder."

The government said the new code was as a result of the KPMG review carried out this year, which found a very small minority of clubs and bars offering "irresponsible" promotions.

More than 90 per cent of around 2,000 responses to the government's consultation were in favour of a mandatory code.

However the BBPA's chief executive Rob Hayward said the measures would "condemn more pubs to closure and put more people out of work".

He added: "Well run pubs should not be punished for the problems caused by poorly run businesses and irresponsible individuals. The government has the weapons it needs to tackle irresponsible retailers by rigorously enforcing the Licensing Act. We don't need new laws and regulations, just better enforcement of existing laws."

But he said he was "encouraged" the government was looking to ban irresponsible promotions across the whole industry.

The Bill, which inlcudes the mandatory code, is expected to become law sometime next summer.