Tories tax on alcopops

The Conservatives have unveiled plans to treble tax on alcopops and high strength beers and ciders to try and combat the growing under-age binge drinking epidemic.
This doesn’t all mean bad news for all beer and cider drinkers as the extra money raised would be used to cut duty on lower strength beers and cider plus wines and spirits would be unaffected.
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said the aim of the package is to discourage young, binge drinkers, and that "the vast majority of law abiding, responsible drinkers" would not be hit.
Under the proposed plans a 275ml bottle of alcopop will cost 50p more, a 500ml can of super strength or special brew beer and cider will cost 32p more while a three-litre bottle of 8.5% abv cider would increase by £1.25.

In contrast, duty on cider below 3% abv would be halved and significantly reduced on beer below 2.5% abv.
Key points for you to know are:
• There will be no overall increase in revenues from alcohol taxation
• Wines, spirits and 90% of beer and cider consumed in Britain are unaffected
• UK’s most popular beers and ciders, including Carling, John Smiths, Guinness, Stella Artois, Strongbow and Magners will not be affected
Although similar measures have been successful in Germany and Austria, the aim to cut the consumption of the targeted drinks by 50% could lead to under-age drinking of more damaging spirits and wines.

Supermarkets in Easter booze price war.

Despite recent talks about taking action on cheap supermarket deals on alcohol, the four major supermarkets are preparing for an Easter booze price war. This week Tesco is selling 24 x 440ml cans of Strongbow for £10 – 42p a can – and 24 x 440ml cans of Foster's for £15.

Asda, which has now pledged that their stores will not sell booze after midnight, has been heavily advertising its offers - two crates of 18 x 440ml cans of John Smith's, Carling, Stella Artois, Carlsberg or Foster's for just £16 –  only 44p a can.

Meanwhile, Morrison's advertised in the Telegraph offering customers two cases of Stella Artois or Becks for £15 –  an even cheaper 32p a bottle. Sainsbury also has an offer on two cases 20 x 275ml bottles of Becks for £20 and has slashed the price of 15 x 330ml bottles of Stella Artois to £7.49.

These highly competitive prices are a result of selling below-cost just to keep customer numbers up.

"This sort of irresponsible pricing is going to hurt us all when the Government is persuaded to put up all alcohol prices." - Mike Rowlands of Macclesfield based multiple operator Guardian Leisure

In a recent poll, 70% of licensees said they would support a minimum price scheme in order to stamp out these irresponsible promotions in both the on and off-trade for pubs and shops leading to all businesses gaining a fair share of the custom.

Pub Closing Crisis after Smoking Ban

Over the past year, it has been announced that pubs across the nation are closing on an average of twenty seven a week, nearly four every day. The introduction of the smoking ban coupled with upward spiralling costs of alcohol are ruining the trade of the British pub.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has warned that many communities, towns and villages will be left without a local pub unless the Government acts now – starting with a duty freeze on beer.
Stark figures from the BBPA reveal the pub closure rate is seven times faster than in 2006 and 14 times faster than in 2005. In total, 1,409 pubs closed in 2007 – a sharp acceleration when compared to 216 closures in 2006 and 102 in 2005.

 “These figures show the stark reality of the pub trade today, in contrast to the hype surrounding the myth of ‘24-hour drinking’ and extended pub opening hours.

“Pub closures at this rate are threatening an important hub of our social fabric and community history. What we need to stop the decline is support from Government and the general public.”

Beer sales have dropped to their lowest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s with 14m fewer pints being sold today than in 1979. Total alcohol sales in pubs have plummeted by around 6% in the last 12 months and even the surge in food sales has not relieved the pressure.

Pub Chief attacks celebrities over binge drinking problems.

The chairman of JD Wetherspoon has accused drunken celebrities and irresponsible parents of fuelling the binge drinking culture. Tim Martin, founder of the national pub chain, said that media coverage of inebriated celebrities at events such as the Brit Awards and the “habitual drunken celebrations” of sportsmen set a bad example.

He said: “This sort of [bad] behaviour is not a new phenomenon and is frequently replicated by the general public during birthday parties, stag and hen parties and so on. What I am saying is more complex than a celebrity issue. It is a cultural issue and a symptom of that is the glorification of drunken celebrities. The French and Italians drink more than we do and behave better.”

Mr Martin, well-known for his outspoken views on a wide range of issues, dismissed the latest government initiatives on under-age drinking, which include a controversial yellow and red card warning system for landlords, as “likely to fail”.

He said: “The current crackdown on under-age drinking by the authorities is unlikely to solve the problem as most anti-social behaviour results from older age groups.” He said that many parents had engaged in under-age drinking when growing up and that they now “actively collaborate in enabling their 16 and 17-year-old children to do so”.

Carling parts company with leading festivals.

After a nine year partnership Festival Republic has announced that Carling will no longer be the headline sponsor or official lager of the Reading and Leeds festivals.
Following a successful long-term partnership, it was by mutual agreement that both parties felt the time was right to pursue new opportunities.

This also means opportunities for more sales of non-Carling beers in the festival areas and grounds.

Paddy Power!

Paddy Power, the Irish bookmaker that offers odds on everything from the American elections to Spanish bullfighting, is set to open more UK betting shops in Manchester and Glasgow aiming to double it’s British estate over the next three years.
The group, which specialises in humorous and unusual bets and irreverent advertising, said that it planned expand its existing estate of 58 shops in the UK, all of them in the London area, to at least 120 shops.

The group's unusual marketing approach - it persuaded a Tongan player to change his name to Paddy Power for the duration of the Rugby World Cup - helped it to lift 2007 profits by 53 per cent.