Alcohol Pricing & Caversham Pubs
Supermarkets sell alcohol at below cost price, UK hospital admissions due to alcohol abuse have more than doubled since 1995, and pubs around Caversham seem to be dropping like flies.
At the beginning of March, the Scottish government announced plans to introduce a minimum cost per unit on alcohol sales, although that minimum cost was not revealed. On 15th March the UK government's chief medical advisor, Sir Liam Donaldson, proposed a minimum price per unit in England, suggesting 50p as the minimum retail cost of a unit of alcohol. The day after, Gordon Brown rejected the proposals. Then on April 7th the government was reported to be planning to use existing laws to enforce such a minimum price. So that's clear then; rather like a really murky pint of home-brew.
Alcohol abuse is recorded as the primary or secondary cause of 207,800 hospital admissions in England during 2006/7, compared to 93,500 in 1995. One in ten of hospital admissions for an alcohol-related diagnosis were aged under 18. Deaths due to alcohol have doubled since the early 1990s to nearly 9,000 a year, and the estimated annual cost to the NHS of alcohol abuse is estimated at £2.7 billion. A Department of Health report last December calculated that a 40p minimum price for a unit of alcohol would reduce hospital admissions by 40,000 per year in England alone.
Supermarkets in particular are blamed for increasing alcohol consumption through irresponsible cut-price deals, including using alcoholic drinks as a loss-leader to encourage people into their stores. In real terms alcohol prices have declined by 69% since the 1980s. Some of the most heavily promoted alcohol seems to be drinks which are particularly attractive to the youngest drinkers, such as alcopops, or which appear to be squarely aimed at binge drinkers, such as super-strength lagers. Curiously, Tesco, the UK's biggest supermarket chain, is in favour of minimum prices; although it says market forces prevent it acting alone.
Unsurprisingly the Portman group, a drinks industry body, is opposed to minimum alcohol prices, claiming they would penalise 'hard working families'. Somehow I suspect they are more bothered about the effects on their own fat-cat directors and corporate shareholders, but maybe I'm just cynical. Actually, according to a University of Aberdeen report in March, the drinks industry as a whole would see an increase in revenue resulting from the Scottish government's proposals.
In and around Caversham, we are losing pubs. The King Charles Head out at Goring Heath used to be a popular walkers' pub, as well as a source of good food and beer. It has now closed, and I see there is a proposal to turn it into a residential dwelling. The Bird in Hand at Sonning Common has also closed. It is advertised as 'To Let' so there is a chance it will return, but it has been closed a while now, so I'm not holding my breath. The closest pub to where I now live, the Gardeners Arms in Emmer Green, suddenly closed several weeks back - so suddenly I arranged to meet a friend there and we turned up to find the place completely dark, on a Friday night, with no signs or anything to say why it wasn't open. It appears to have reopened recently under new management, so I don't know what happened. Apparently the Red Cow in Lower Caversham has also closed. The biggest shock for me was the closure of the Prince of Wales in Caversham. It's a fair trek from our new house, so I haven't been getting there much since we moved, but it still looked busy last time I was there and it still served the best beer in Caversham. I think the Prince of Wales lost business to the Baron Cadogan - a chain pub that sells poorly kept beer at very low prices, in a not particularly comfortable room with lousy acoustics. Nevertheless, I would have thought the Prince was a thoroughly viable pub, so I hope it was just that the old landlord wanted to move on and that they will be reopening soon.
The way that drink is taxed in this country at present favours supermarkets over pubs. Basically, supermarkets have lower overheads and can squeeze their suppliers, and then the government charges them less duty because their alcohol is cheaper. If the government went for a minimum price per unit model, and adjusted the way it taxes alcohol to support that, pubs would be much better able to compete, as they offer far more than just a fast track to alcoholic oblivion. In the meantime, support your local pub!
The Gardeners Arms is open again. I went there on Friday: a very nice pint
of Greene King IPA and a pleasant atmosphere. From a commercial point of
view it was probably a bit quiet for a Friday evening, but from a
customer's angle it contributed to a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
Wow, the price of alcohol is dropping over there and is increasing over
here. As a matter of fact, when one club or restaurant closes, there are a
number of folks waiting to replace it. Some states allow alcohol to be
sold in supermarkets, but usually they only handle beer.