A trade group has lambasted the Government for coming to the rescue of the car industry while attempting to impose conditions on pubs that could cause widespread job losses.
As the Government announced a £2bn rescue package for the car industry, the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) said the mandatory retail code on alcohol could cost the industry 17,000 jobs.
The proposed code would see pubs forced to abide by strict rules on a range of issues. Minimum standards of training must be met. Wine must be available in 125ml glasses and spirits must be served in 25ml portions.
The mandatory code could cost community pubs £1,100 each per year to comply with and the total burden for the on and off-trades could be £161m.
"It beggars belief that on the very day the Government rightly gives job security to one group of UK workers it is pushing proposals that will put the jobs of a much larger group at risk," said ALMR chief executive Nick Bish.
"Britain's pub and bar industry employs some 580,000 people in the UK. The car industry, by comparison, employs 166,000.
"The costs of the new alcohol code of practice could be the final nail in the coffin for many of the UK's treasured pubs and bars.
"The Government should be seeking to reassure people as they face the reality of a recession. Now is not the time to be risking jobs by pushing any industry to the brink of collapse with unnecessary and ill thought through legislative proposals."
The British Beer and Pub Association also hit out against the mandatory code yesterday. Chief executive Rob Hayward told MPs on the House of Commons Policing and Crime Bill Committee that the suggestion that the closure of pubs and loss of jobs in the industry is a price worth paying for a 1% drop in alcohol consumption is "quite offensive".