Bar’s 10p beers ‘irresponsible’

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Title – Bar’s 10p beers ‘irresponsible’
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 29th July 2008

If this turns out to be as the owner describes it, ‘a one-off sale of a few bottles to regulars’, then this might be one of the greatest over-reactions to seen for a while.

Without knowing the ins and outs of the situation it strikes me as if; they came across some stock that was either close to its ‘sell-by’ date or a brand that did not sell particularly well and wanted to shift it to clear stock and space rather than just disposing of it.

It hardly seems like it is encouraging binge drinking. While the whole subject of alcohol retailing is receiving such high profile coverage and the enforcement of the Licensing Act 2003 is under fire with no clear approach being taken, this is exactly the type of incident that local authorities are going to cause further confusion with. It sometimes feels like the new licensing authorities were wholly unprepared for the hand-over from the magistrates and in some cases are still struggling to catch up, preferring to blame the ‘drink industry’ rather than accept any of the blame.

This story does if my suspicions prove correct not even merit further comment except to send a warning to the BBC:

Be careful, if you don’t want to find yourself in the dock again. Last month you were chastised for encouraging drink driving on Top Gear because the presenters were drinking while driving a truck across the Arctic ice during their Polar Special; next you will be held to account for encouraging binge drinking when Peggy Mitchell announces to a pub full of ‘punters’… “The drinks are on the House”

For those who want to understand the real meaning of Responsible Alcohol Retailing, Beyond The Blue offer the full portfolio of BIIAB licensed retail sector courses including the National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH), The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) and the National Certificate for Designated Premises Supervisors (NCDPS).

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