Ban Supermarkets from selling alcohol

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Title – Ban Supermarkets from selling alcohol
Source – The Independent
Date – 17th June 2008

This is an opinion that will be shared by off-licenses across the country, even if the chances of it actually happening seem remote; but some form of compromise would certainly not be unimaginable. As I have discussed many times before in this blog, the supermarkets find themselves in a difficult situation, unable commercially to take a unilateral stance on ‘minimum pricing’ and unable for fear of ‘price fixing’ to get together to reach agreement, it does seem that they are inevitably locked in a battle that can and will lead to some form of legislation. How far that legislation goes, is going to be the key.

It would be a government willing to face a war with the supermarkets and the courts that bans them selling alcohol; something that is highly unlikely. But some form of compromise where they run separate sections within the supermarkets that only sells alcohol is certainly a possibility and happens already in some supermarkets and is relatively common in some European countries. This ‘segregation’ provides more control and can restrict access to the area, as well as who purchases. It would also allow the supermarkets to ensure that staff in these areas receive more stringent training and supervision from appropriately qualified individuals.

But the supermarkets would probably fight this ‘solution’ as well, the expense not just of building these areas would be substantial and the money they make currently from selling alcohol as loss-leaders would be curtailed with customers having to specifically shop for their alcohol rather than buy it as a by-product of their weekly shop (exactly what the government would be hoping to achieve). But the government has demonstrated before that it does not care about the cost to industry in order to achieve its goals, just look at the expense of the smoking ban on the on-trade through loss of sales and facilities they had to build to accommodate smokers.

The on-trade and independent off-licences would certainly welcome this ‘levelling’ of the playing field. But it is the whole industry that is under fire, not just the supermarkets and we know from bitter experience that it is much more effective to make voluntary changes rather than to wait for restrictive legislation. So maybe it is time for all those involved in the licensed retail sector, probably through the alcohol manufacturers, to get together and find a solution to the current problems and concerns of the public and the government. The advantage of a voluntary code of practice rather than legislation is obvious;, before everyone pays the price of added legislation at a time when the economic climate is already enough of a burden.

The first place to start, training staff to retail responsibly across the sector. Not simply to meet their legislative needs but to allow all staff to retail alcohol responsibly. At Beyond The Blue we provide the portfolio of BIIAB courses from the National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) to the Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR). Effective training provides retailers with staff that understand that responsible alcohol retailing benefits their business as well as safeguarding the sector as a whole.

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