'Bring your own booze to the pub'

A pub owner is battling cheap supermarket drink deals by inviting cash-strapped punters to bring their own booze. Bip Wetherell lets punters bring in supplies with them after they pay a £5 entry fee to cover security and DJ costs. And the night, for over-21s, is proving such a hit he is extending it from Saturday nights into the week.The move comes as the pub trade reels from dirt-cheap alcohol offers rolled out by major supermarkets - The Daily Star​

A 46-year-old mother was told by Tesco staff that she could not buy two bottles of wine - in case she gave them to her 14-year-old daughter. Karen Dumelow was queuing to pay for her weekly shopping with daughter Emily when the checkout assistant demanded to see her daughter's ID. But when Emily could not produce any, Mrs Dumelow, a fraud investigator, was told she could not buy the two bottles of Tesco finest white wine - The Telegraph ​

About 2,000 pubs have closed since the Chancellor raised beer duty in last year's Budget, resulting in 20,000 job losses, and 70 per cent of people surveyed want him to drop plans for further increases in next month's Budget, according to the British Beer & Pub Association - The Times​

An MP has warned that Scottish government plans to curb cut-price alcohol sales in Scotland could fuel "booze cruises" across the border. Russell Brown - who represents Dumfries and Galloway - said the moves could turn Carlisle into the new Calais - BBC​

A policewoman shot in a pub raid was lucky to survive, a court was told yesterday. Dog handler Katie Johnson was shot in the thigh as two robbers took £12,000 from the Hospital Inn in Bamber Bridge near Preston, Lancs. Wayne McDonald, 47, shot her with a sawn-off shotgun, Preston Crown Court was told. McDonald, of Manchester and accomplice David Tyrell, 39, from Salford, Greater Manchester are alleged to have collaborated with Rudolph Mancini and Peter Plaskowski, 28, the pub's chef, over the raid in 2007- The Mirror​