"There are now more supermarkets than pubs for the first time in Britain, according to statistics which highlight the dramatic decline of the country's once thriving pub industry. The latest figures from IGD, the leading research body which monitors the grocery market, indicate there are 55,854 supermarkets and convenience stores. For the first time ever this is a greater number than the amount of pubs, which had fallen from 61,000 a decade ago to 54,818 by the end of last year, according to the British Beer and Pub Association." - Daily Telegraph
"These days, it's far cheaper to drink at home than it is to visit the local boozer. But that's not deterring the drinkers who are banding together to save their local pubs. In Hesket Newmarket, Cumbria, 125 people raised £1,500 each and bought the Old Crown: each of them now has a say in how it is run. The pub in Charlton Horethorne, Dorset, was virtually derelict and about to be turned into a car park until the village rallied, set up a "save the pub" group and had planning permission for the car park turned down: the Kings Arms reopened for business earlier this month." - Sunday Times
"The Irish drinks industry is preparing to go to court in an attempt to block Alex Salmond's plans to tackle Scotland's drink problem. The Irish Spirits Association has taken legal advice, seeking to stop the Scottish Government imposing a minimum price on booze. The ISA believes the plan violates EU law and is looking at challenging the legislation in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg." - Scotland on Sunday
"If we are to tackle the [alcohol] problem, we need to do a whole raft of things at the same time. It's not an either/or situation. It cannot be libertarians against prohibitionists. There is no single solution. Nobody expects government to fix this overnight but enforcing existing legislation would at least signal its intention. If government won't do anything, we need to act ourselves. Drunken 14-year-olds turn into alcoholic 30-year-olds and dead 50-year-olds." - Gillian Bowditch, writing in the Sunday Times