Anger over draconian alcohol measures

9:09am Saturday 2nd March 2013 in News By Richard Catton & Sean Haggerty

BREWERS and beer sellers in York have reacted angrily to a new report from a group of doctors which calls for draconian new measures in a bid to end alcohol abuse.

The Alcohol Health Alliance, a group representing GPs, surgeons and A&E doctors, is urging ministers to considers a raft of measures including hard-hitting health warnings on cans and bottles, similar to those on cigarette packets.

The group also called for a ban on alcohol advertising and sponsorship, restricting the times of alcohol sales in shops and increasing the price of certain high-strength products.

Craig Lee, owner of the award-winning Rudgate Brewery at Tockwith, said the alliance was wrong to target the whole drinks industry.

“Beer always bears the brunt of any alcohol issues,” he said. “On the news, you always see people behind a bar pulling pints but it’s actually the strong spirits and stupid ciders which are the problem.”

He said: “People are getting smashed at home before they go out. People shouldn’t be able to go to a supermarket and get a bottle of vodka for £8.99.”

John Pitts, manager of the Whisky Shop in Coppergate, said there was an ongoing battle with supermarkets selling alcohol cheaply.

He said: “We are a fairly large chain and have had to have a number of price hikes in recent years but it would be disappointing to see another unnecessary hike.

“It would make people think more about what they would buy. People have been willing to spend more in recent years but this would counteract that.”

Ian Loftus, manager of the House Of Trembling Madness in Stonegate, said: “We do have an alcohol consumption problem in the UK and it does need to be addressed.

“A media campaign on drink problems would be far more effective than printing on bottles. Britain is famous for producing some of the finest drinks in the world and we need to continue to advertise and do sponsorship deals in order to export these products. The current price of sterling makes this market one of Britain’s strongest.”

Beer duty freeze call

A NORTH Yorkshire MP has called on the Chancellor to support the brewing and pub industry by freezing beer duty in this month’s Budget.

Julian Smith, MP for Skipton and Ripon, joined the British Beer & Pub Association, the Campaign for Real Ale and the Society for Independent Brewers to deliver a “message in a barrel” made by North Yorkshire craft cooper Jonathan Manby to the Treasury calling for the freeze.

Mr Smith’s constituency includes the Black Sheep brewery in Masham.

Comments(5)

bob the builder says...
1:37pm Sat 2 Mar 13

.. if you're going to do it for drink, then food has to be included. As an asides how many overweight MPs and GPs do you see ?

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the butler says...
6:33pm Sat 2 Mar 13

How many beer drinkers look and read the label on the bottle, very few i would suggest, as long as the label has a familiar design it will pass muster, A media campaign would I think prove more useful than what is suggested,
As regards people doing their drinking at home; do not blame the grocery store...
Why don't you people, who advocate these draconian restrictive ideas clean upyour own backyard, first?

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Mulgrave says...
6:38pm Sat 2 Mar 13

The definition of an alcohoilc always used to be someone who drank more than their doctor.

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mel_drew says...
8:50pm Sat 2 Mar 13

the butler wrote:
How many beer drinkers look and read the label on the bottle, very few i would suggest, as long as the label has a familiar design it will pass muster, A media campaign would I think prove more useful than what is suggested,
As regards people doing their drinking at home; do not blame the grocery store...
Why don't you people, who advocate these draconian restrictive ideas clean upyour own backyard, first?
Yes indeed. Pubs realising £75 from an £8.99 bottle of voddy is another reason why people are pre-loading, or just not going out.

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Magicman! says...
4:26am Sun 3 Mar 13

I'd suggest something different: a "3 strikes" system for the emergency services: within a rolling year from the first instance, a person can have two instances whereby they get so drunk they need the emergency services to look after them, but they are fined afterwards for using resources (£150 for 1 crew responding, £300 for 2 crews, £600 for 3 crews, etc) - and on the 3rd time within a year if the emergency services are called out to somebody who is completely trashed and unable to look after themselves (having already been fined twice), the person simply gets painkillers from the response team and left to it - if they die its their own stupid fault for not accepting responsibility for their own actions... that'd be how I'd do it, and people would soon see results. Also in that way you're only 'charging extra' as it were for those who are completely irresponsible in the first place, those who have a couple of pints then get a taxi home still able to talk properly and not throw up on the way aren't then hit with increases in price to their tipple.... and eventually it'd reduce strain on the NHS and police who are strained on fridays and saturdays.

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