Home Office says promotions that increase customers could be classed ‘irresponsible’

07-Sep-2014 - Last updated on 08-Sep-2014 at 09:05 GMT

The Home Office has advised publicans on what makes an irresponsible promotion

The Home Office has issued its long-awaited guidance on the revised mandatory licensing conditions – just weeks before the law changes.

There has been criticism from the trade that the operators will struggle to implement the changes necessary before the deadline of 1 October.

The key change is the requirement to list smaller measures – half pints for beer or cider; 25ml or 35ml for spirits and 125ml for wine – in drinks lists or menus.

There was also puzzlement at the Home Office’s suggestion that one factor to consider when deciding if a promotion was irresponsible was the likelihood of “a significant increase in the number of customers”.

James Anderson, a partner at Poppleston Allen, said: “As long as you are operating within capacity there should be no problem with a promotion that increases the number of customers. After all, that is what a promotion is designed to do.”

Kate Nicholls, strategic affairs director for the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers, said: “The purpose of a promotion is to drive sales. This is one of a number of factors that are being considered and we need to be careful that the legal interpretation is clear. The key factor must be the significant risk of breaching a licensing objective.”

Range of measures

Crime Prevention minister Norman Baker told the PMA: “The number of customers alone would not be a strong enough reason to deem a promotion irresponsible – it would have to be taken into account with a whole range of other factors such as whether the promotion encourages binge drinking, the track record of the licensed premises and adequacy of security measures.”

On the requirements surrounding smaller measures, Nicholls said: ““This guidance has been very slow in coming and now operators have a very short space of time in which to implement these changes. Having to include the smaller measures in price lists and menus will have a significant impact on small operators.

“I would like to see the Home Office adopt a light touch approach to reflect the short turnaround time that operators are being expected to comply with.”

Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, said: “Pubs will also have to tell customers what measures are available if they don’t specify when ordering - we feel this is unnecessary, but hopefully there will be a common sense approach to enforcement.”

Baker said: “The coalition Government is taking a range of action to tackle the £21 billion a year cost of drink-related harm. But we also want to support pubs and in doing so have reduced the price of a pint and scrapped the duty escalator.”