A senior influential policeman has called for a minimum price of 80p per unit on alcohol and a complete ban on all alcohol advertising.
Mike Craik, Association of Chief Police Officers national spokesperson for alcohol and licensing, pointed to estimates that a minimum price of 50p a unit would reduce consumption by 6% but an 80p price would lead to a 19% decrease.
"It will upset a lot of people in the industry, although some do support it," said Craik, speaking at the Westminster Health Forum.
Support for minimum pricing also came from chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance Ian Gilmore, Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) chief executive Mike Benner and director for the Centre for Public Health Mark Bellis but Craik went further in calling for the minimum price to be 80p.
He also called for all alcohol advertising to be banned and for all advertising revenue to instead be spent on responsible drinking campaigns.
"Advertising doesn't get a mention in the mandatory code — everybody is scared of it," he said.
But Michael Todd of the Advertising Standards Authority said the Sheffield study into price, promotion and harm said it was "inconclusive" whether advertising had an impact on drinking levels.
There was also support for the idea of setting a maximum price for soft drinks.
Bellis pointed to the Apple Juice law in Germany where one or two soft drinks must be sold at a cheaper rate than alcohol by volume. "I think something like this is quite reasonable," he said.
Tory shadow licensing minister Tobias Ellwood pointed to his time working in a student's union bar where lemonade cost 5p a glass but was sold for 80p. "The Apple Juice law is interesting and I will look into it," he said.
Meanwhile, Camra boss Benner urged the Government to reconsider its mandatory code as it would impact on well run community pubs.