Pub sector 'being held back on responsibility pledges by advertising restrictions'

Last week, the Department of Health published a new set of pledges under its responsibility deal.

It is yet another Government move attempting to tackle alcohol misuse and promote responsible drinking — but as a voluntary and manageable scheme, it is one that is largely welcomed by the trade.

The Public Health Responsibility Deal is a network of 690 different partners across a number of sectors that have signed collective and individual pledges on alcohol, food, health at work and physical activity.

About 100 have committed to at least one pledge on alcohol, from labelling, tackling underage sales and reducing the units consumed.

After meeting Government ministers last week, the BBPA has spearheaded new targeted action for the on-trade to help deliver the pledge to remove a billion units of alcohol sold annually from the market, by the end of 2015. 

On behalf of its members — which represent 95% of the brewing industry and around 20,000 pubs — it has come up with seven new agreements. Each of its members will undertake at least one of the pledges and will report its progress to the BBPA.

The new pledges include its pub-owning members offering a house wine below 12.5% and at least one non/lower-alcohol beer to their tenants/lessees and in their directly managed pubs; and actively promoting lower-alcohol products in their pubs and to their tenants/lessees. For brewers that wholesale other brewers’ products, it has added the pledge to offer at least one non/lower-alcohol beer to their customers.

Commitments​

It has also agreed to include at least one non/lower-alcohol beer at every event undertaken on behalf of the BBPA; to showcase non/lower-alcohol beers on the Beer Genie website and through the Let There Be Beer campaign; and to organise one event per year specifically focused on non/ lower-alcohol beers, aimed at consumer and health media. Many of these are commitments the large tenanted pub companies have already introduced; almost all now offer and promote lower ABV wines and beers through their in-house publications.

However, as Star Pubs & Bars, the c1,300-strong pubco, said, the new pledges “provide a clear focus” for delivering standards of best practice. It added that it will be covering the agreements in new lessee training, within its regular newsletters and during its ongoing business support.

Rooney Anand, chief executive of Greene King — which is not a BBPA member, but has committed to eight pledges — said while it welcomes the agreements, tackling the strength of alcohol does not go far enough.

“The urgent issue is the need to tackle the availability of low-price alcohol,” he said. “We continue to call strongly on the Government to introduce minimum unit pricing, which would be a meaningful step in re-ducing alcohol-related harm.” 

Counter-intuitive​

BBPA chief executive Brigid Simmonds said while she had already seen some encouraging case studies on how its members were offering low-strength alcohol, progress would be halted unless the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) changes its codes, which currently do not allow alcohol promotion by virtue of its strength.

“We’ve been pushing for a change in the rules that allows somebody, whether in a supermarket or the pub, to say ‘drink that beer because it’s lower strength’. At the moment you can’t do that, which is counter-intuitive” she said.

She said the BBPA was looking at 3.4% ABV as the low-strength benchmark for beer, because it is 20% lower than the average 4.2% beer, and suggested a similar system for wine and cider.

It is a complicated and long-standing battle that Simmonds said was tied up with food labelling regulation and what consumers understand by ‘lower strength’ or ‘light’. But she said the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs was set to undertake a project to find out how consumers interpret these words, which she hopes will allow for change.

She also hopes for progress when she meets the ASA this week. But the ASA told the Publican’s Morning Advertiser it remains unconvinced.

“We’re always open-minded to change but, to date, have not seen the case, let alone been persuaded by it, for consulting on a change to the advertising rules,” a spokesman said.

It seems the industry’s attempts to behave responsibly, while avoiding legislation, may continue to be hampered by red tape.

Education commitment​

SABMiller has committed to provide funding to offer 10,000 pub industry staff a British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) level 1 qualification on responsible alcohol retailing, focused on underage drinking and tackling anti-social behaviour.

The two organisations have agreed that by 2016, 10,000 people will achieve the award — accredited by Ofqual.

The training and qualification will be delivered through BIIAB-approved training centres and is available to employees who are over 18, have worked in the industry for six months or more and work in the tenanted, leased or independent sector.

The SABMiller Scholarship programme was launched in 2009 and has been delivered to 4,800 people in the industry.

Denise Thomson, director of quality and compliance at BIIAB, said: “Ensuring staff know the legal framework within which they operate, and are aware of the problems they might encounter, results in higher standards and professionalism.”

Those interested can contact the BIIAB Customer Support and Quality Assurance department on 01276 417 821.

What are tenanted and leased pub companies offering already?​

Star Pubs & Bars:  ​It promotes lower ABV wine as a standard house option in its responsible retailing guide. The ABV of bottled and canned Strongbow has been reduced from 5.3% to 5%, while John Smith’s has dropped from 3.8% to 3.6%. It has also launched Radler, a 2% Fosters cut with cloudy lemon.

Punch Taverns: ​Between October 2009 and October 2013, cask and bottled ale and cider reduced in strength by an overall average of 1.5% ABV and wine by 0.2% ABV.

Admiral Taverns: ​Itoffers three 5.5% ABV wines and lower alcohol packaged beers at 2% and 2.8% ABV.

Enterprise Inns: ​It offers eight 5.5% ABV wines, and since the launch it has sold 6,600, 6 x 75cl cases, which equates to 165,000 fewer units of alcohol.