Britain losing its bottle: health fears drive consumers away from wine

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Title – Britain losing its bottle: health fears drive consumers away from wine
Source – The Independent
Date – 15th June 2009

It would seem that the good times are over… or are they?

When I started in the industry opening a bottle of red in a pub was always accompanied by a sense of doom that the rest of the bottle would ‘turn’ before it was sold… opening a bottle late on a Sunday night was a no-no.

Fortunately the world moved on and Britain moved along with it; before long Britain was not so much ‘moving along with it’ as ‘driving it’ and the veritable explosion in the UK wine market and the diversity of that market is one of the great growth stories in the Licensed Retail Sector over the last twenty years. We even went through a stage in the nineties of going a little too far with ‘wine bars’ popping up in the most unlikely locations; the twenty first century versions tend to be a little more balanced than their forbearers.

So where am I going with all of this? Well the fact is that we may now be seeing a decline in growth of wine or even a contraction. The role of duty and vat are certainly playing their part in this contraction as is the worst economic climate any of us have ever experienced; but doom and gloom it is certainly not, we are still very much riding the crest of the wave.

The key now is that wine drinkers are more demanding than ever and retailers have to keep up and provide exactly what customers demand. Those who became complacent and opted for the best deal from the suppliers under the assumption that grape variety was all the choice they had to provide have to think again; they have to think seriously what their customers demand today and what they will demand next month; what suits their environment and other offerings such as food served; what suits the time of year; and what suits the demographic they serve.

Consumers will continue to be split between those who ‘know’ about wine and demand a very specific product (and will pay the cost) and those who are intimidated by such ‘knowledge’ and who need subtle guidance (and who are very price sensitive). Trends will become increasingly important, the explosion of rose is an excellent demonstration of this and retailers need to pick up early on these trends.

The wine market may have plateaued, but at £9.6bn there is still plenty of scope for retailers to profit from this very significant market.

For the on-trade there is likely also to be further regulation to incorporate into their business strategy. The prospect of compulsory 125ml servings being available in all premises licensed for consumption on the premises and restrictions on free wine (in many forms including; promotions, wine tasting etc.) is a real possibility as early as the end of 2009. Some businesses will need to make adjustments to their approach to marketing to incorporate such changes should they occur.

At Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the Licensed Retail Sector to help our clients 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 Consultancy Service helps alcohol retailers meet statutory regulations and industry guidelines and standards to help businesses improve and prosper.

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

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Move to outlaw two ‘Party’ drugs

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Title – Move to outlaw two ‘Party’ drugsSource – www.bbc.co.uk
Date 21st May 2009

The illegal drug scene is one which changes constantly; it is difficult enough for the police and authorities to keep up with let alone employers and employees who may never or only sporadically have come into contact with drug use.

The scope of substance abuse stretches further than ever; from the bizarre to the truly horrific. The problem is that generally the ‘new trends’ tend to be proceeded by myth and hype almost always accompanied by untruths surrounding dangers and addictiveness.

It amazes me to this day the number of people I meet who still believe urban myths such as ‘cocaine not being addictive’ or that ‘ecstasy is safe’; yet the grapevine is often listened to more than the science almost always more than the government.

This is normally simple denial on behalf of those who are addicted or who want to use illegal drugs. Of more concern yet is that these untruths are generated by those sales people and marketing executives whose income and lifestyle relies on ever growing consumption of their products; we usually call them drug dealers.

Here we have another good example of ‘good marketing’. The use of the word ‘herbal’ automatically implies that somehow these drugs are not toxic and potentially even good for you. The use of the word herbal suggests a pure, non-chemical, non-toxic natural source. It certainly does not reflect the potentially lethal drug it refers to.

The government seems to be taking measures now to reclassify these drugs and close those loopholes which exist. This is a process which will continue as long a people are willing to believe those drug dealers who are always looking to push the boundaries of the law, in pursuit of profit at any cost.

Drug use and drug dealing can have dramatic effects on business; both in employee productivity and on the reduced number of customers who will be attracted to businesses which suffer the negative effects of drug use and drug dealing.

In any business there can only be one approach to illegal drugs and that is the adoption of a ‘Zero Tolerance Policy’ and enforcement of that policy through Drug Awareness training. We can provide you with this training and using training aids such as our

Drugs Box our training provides realistic and client focussed training which your employees can relate to.

At Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the Licensed Retail Sector including The National Certificate for Licensees Drug Awareness (NCLDA). For other sectors our bespoke Drug Awareness (DA) courses, which examine illegal drugs, their effects and the drug litter synonymous with their use, are specifically designed to reflect the nature of our clients working environment. Our Conflict Management and Resolution (CMR) course complements these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and drug related behaviour.

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

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Dying for a drink / Tell people what is a safe level and what is not

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Title – Dying for a drink / Tell people what is a safe level and what is notSource – The Times
Date – 21st May 2009

Undoubtedly there are many people in the UK who have a bad relationship with alcohol and I don’t think you’ll find too many people who would not acknowledge that alcohol has a detrimental effect on health and on communities when consumed in excess.

The question is how we redress that balance without preaching at people, patronising them or scaremongering.

No one likes being told what to do, let alone by a government who don’t exactly hold the moral high ground. However people are willing to accept well presented information, from reliable sources without a hidden agenda and most importantly they demand to be allowed to make their own decisions.

Whenever I run a

National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) course and we get to the section on the negative effect of alcohol on health or when I run Certificate in Alcohol Awareness (CAA) courses or an Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing courses (ARAR), I get a frightening number of blank faces when I demonstrate the consequences of chronic drinking.

This always particularly surprises me on the NCPLH courses as candidates have usually been working in the Licensed Retail Sector for some time at that point. Not only that, but when we hand out the ‘wheels’ which allow them to see the number of units each drink contains, I can see them working out their own unit count; the reactions vary from candidate to candidate, but frowns and nervous giggles are not uncommon.

We have also been showing the governments last round of advertisements on the ‘Unit system’ (see You may be drinking more than you think) and we generally find that most candidates either do not recognise the advertisements or that the subtlety was lost on them.

Interestingly, I never find any resentment from those I teach when we talk about the number of units which can be consumed in ‘safe’ levels; from our feedback forms we find that our trainers ‘experience’ and ‘knowledge’ are rated very highly by candidates attending our courses; maybe that is the trick.

Maybe it is more simple than that; we tell candidates the facts and present them in a straight forward manner, we treat people as adults and we credit them with the intelligence to make their own decisions based on the information available to them.

I don’t for a second claim that our courses stop people binge drinking or developing chronic alcohol addiction, but I do claim that if we are able to at least pass on the information in a constructive manner then the government should be able to come up with a plan for this to happen in a wider spectrum. It may not be the solution, but it would go some way to relieving some of the problem related to alcohol consumption.

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.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

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.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

On-the-spot fines blamed for keeping crimes out of court

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Title – On-the-spot fines blamed for keeping crimes out of court
Source – The Times
Date 5th May 2009

It seems that the system for prosecuting offenders is in a bit of a mess; more importantly has lost the confidence of much of the public and by the same token businesses and the employees who work within them.

On many of the courses we run, be they in the

Licensed Retail Sector or for companies that have to deal with aggressive or even violent customers or members of the public for whom we run Conflict Management courses, we hear the same comments; people are sceptical not only on the speed of response they will get if they call the police, but more importantly what the police can actually do.

Now I should say I am a great supporter of the police, I think the vast majority are in it for the right reasons and are dedicated professionals. Undoubtedly they are inward looking and somewhat isolated, but that is the fault of others rather then themselves. No matter what they do they seem to come under fire. When they take a strong approach they are accused of being overzealous and when they take a more reserved approach they are accused of being ineffective. Much like the goalkeeper in football, when they let in an easy goal they are chastised; however for the hundreds of saves they make a season, few ever receive the praise they deserve.

Add to this the pressure they feel being hamstrung by legislation that seems to favour the criminal, be unenforceable or ineffective and it becomes not only a job for the brave and dedicated but one for the exceptionally patient as well.

The problem with all of this is it lets too many people down. Because of the lack of confidence people have in the system they also lack confidence or the will to challenge it and rather choose to turn a blind eye which exasperates the whole situation.

The law is not a complete ass and having an understanding of the law gives you more confidence to make it work, be that as a Personal Licence Holder or as an individual facing issues of Workplace Violence. There will be many situations where punishments simply don’t fit the crime; I have yet to meet someone who has been assaulted who felt that the punishment (if any) handed out to the perpetrator came even close to being proportionate. Those who are assaulted in the course of their duties, tend to feel even more frustrated; they feel not only are the punishments not there to deter offenders or punish them, but that if they themselves take any action they are likely to be the one prosecuted.

This is simply not true; well at least it is not true if you understand the law, have professional and well trained staff and take a proactive approach to preventing such instances happening in the first place.

At Beyond The Blue our whole ethos is to prevent such occurrences happening ‘out of the blue’ and helping our clients see ‘Beyond The Blue’. During many of our courses we look at the law and at ways to make it work; not to make it work in your favour, but simply to ‘make it work’; contrary to what many might believe the law does work, unfortunately many ‘criminals’ ‘understand’ the law better than those they commit crimes against. This leads to what can feel like a criminal justice system which leans towards the criminal.

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.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

‘Take Courage’ beer advert banned

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Title – ‘Take Courage’ beer advert bannedSource – www.bbc.co.uk
Date 15th April 2009

Here is another example of the ASA clamping down on alcohol advertising, yet this one is distinctly more tentative then other recent examples.

It just goes to prove how important it has become to promote alcohol in the ‘right’ way and not to link it in to increased performance in any way.

There are certainly issues surrounding alcohol advertising and everyone working in the licensed retail sector has a duty to conform with industry guidelines, but at the same time we have to make sure we are not going too far in suppressing opportunity and personal judgement.

There is clearly no intent to deceive or promote excessive alcohol consumption in these adverts and I think this should have been recognised. They don’t seem to target vulnerable parts of society or have any kind of subliminal message that could cause harm and ultimately that is what the standards are there for; to prevent harm caused by alcohol.

It seems a pity that humour has suffered at the hands of the ASA this time and they seem to have been unable to give people credit to see the humour and subtlety in these Courage advertisements. However it does remind us that we need to take care in the messages we deliver to our customers when it comes to alcohol advertising.

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.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Schools hire bouncers for ‘crowd control’ in the classroom

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Title – Schools hire bouncers for ‘crowd control’ in the classroom
Source – The Independent
Date –13th April 2009

I don’t think it would be wise for me to start talking about the merits of employing security staff (I will not lower myself to that standard of the press who still insist on referring to qualified door supervisors as bouncers) in schools, in the place of absent teachers; as that would open too many doors. However this story does show the extreme version of the many different areas in which qualified door supervisors and security guards can operate.

It was not that long ago we discussed a story regarding their placement in libraries (see

Bouncers bring thugs to book at the library)

Security is a going concern and a growing industry. Like it or not security issues are now an essential topic at board meetings across the UK’s major companies and an essential consideration for medium and small businesses alike. With the approach of the Olympics, this interest is going to grow and the opportunities are going to be there for licensed operatives to take advantage of.

I’m not sure security (in this form at least) in schools is a growth industry, but there are many different opportunities out there for full and part time professionals.

At Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the Security Industry. These include; The National Certificate for Door Supervisors (NCDS) designed for those who require an SIA Door Supervisor Licence; In-House Security Induction (IHSI) which helps our clients train candidates in the specific systems of the premises in which they will be working and meet the SIA recommendation that all security operatives receive bespoke further training above their statutory requirements in the specifics of the premises in which they will operate; Physical Intervention (PI) for those who are required in their role to face and deal with violence in their workplace and may be required to restrain and / or escort aggressive customers; 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.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.