Booze code on the way / Binge pubs face closure

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Title – Booze code on the way / Binge pubs face closure
Source – The London Paper / The Evening Standard
Date - 13th May 2009

There I was teaching an

NCPLH course yesterday indicating to the candidates what the current Licensing Act 2003 represented to their businesses, how it was likely that as the focus slowly turned away from the economic recession, it would surely fall back on licensing again and how the current voluntary codes of conduct would undoubtedly be made mandatory at some point in the not too distant future.

It does seem from these reports to be heading that way; but should we be worried?

I don’t think so at this stage, that is not to say that the government will not do something stupid or irrational at the same time as legislating in favour of Responsible Alcohol Retailing… I’m not saying that no one will be affected, but those who are should really take the opportunity to look again at their business model, because the ‘£10 all you can drink promotions’ are really not a long term business strategy. Premises should be able to attract customers for better reasons then the volume of alcohol they can consume.

It seems that under the new codes being proposed irresponsible promotions would be considered the same as an ‘unauthorised licensable activity’ and attract a penalty of a £20,000 fine and / or 6 months imprisonment.

These new codes are again going to make it doubly important to train employees to help them understand their responsibilities and courses like our National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) will be the ideal place to start.

The economic downturn has had a fundamental and devastating impact on the Licensed Retail Sector, pubs have and are closing at an alarming rate, the government have not helped with the increases in duty and increased legislation; however it has had the effect of helping the strong well run establishments stand out and although almost none have come out unscathed, those that survive will thrive once the worst is over.

What these well run establishments have in common is; they are run professionally; they train all employees to a high standard; they attract customers to their premises not their alcohol; they continuously examine their business and change to reflect the community in which they are located; they provide excellent customer service; and they do not need to be tied to a code of conduct, because their business activities far exceed the minimum requirements in retailing alcohol responsibly which in itself is good business practice.

At Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the Licensed Retail Sector to help them sell alcohol more responsibly. These include; The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements; The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence; Our Conflict Management and Resolution (CMR) course compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.

Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

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