In Britain, ever-cheaper alcohol is prompting legal action

Police chiefs and lawmakers are concerned that ultralow pricing is fueling a rise in drink-related crime and rowdy behavior.

from the August 24, 2007 edition

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Nick Bish, executive director of the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers, a network of pub, bar, and restaurant operators, says this often reflects badly on the pubs and bars that have responded to concern about cheap alcohol by refraining from "happy hours" and discounting booze.

"Young people will tend to get their drink and start their evening at home or in some public place and then turn up at pubs and bars later in the evening," he says.

"Our concern is that if there is disorder ... the first place the police look is the nearest pub, because the assumption is that this is where it has all happened. That's unfair because of all the efforts we've made."

Rise in alcohol-related crime

Links between alcohol misuse and antisocial behavior and crime are meanwhile multiplying. Statistics show that 1 in 6 British schoolchildren who had committed a crime did so under the influence of alcohol. In June, a survey by the Trading Standards Institute found that a third of teenagers binge drink. Over half of all regular binge drinkers said they had been violent when drinking.

"We do think deep discounting plays a role in this," says Frank Soodeen, a spokesman for Alcohol Concern. "Alcohol is much more affordable, and Home Office test purchase schemes show too many of licenses are prepared to sell alcohol to children, some as young as 11. It's vital the government start cracking down on this."

Possible government-led solutions

It is less clear what the government can do. Officials say a wide-ranging review of alcohol policies has been launched. A spokesman acknowledged that a key concern was "the link between price promotion and the harm or behavior that may follow from that."

Taxation is one option – duties on spirits have not been raised here for 10 years, and other high-content products could be taxed at more punitive rates than low-alcohol drinks, for example. But British alcohol taxes are already higher than in some European countries such as Italy and Greece, which do not have such alcohol problems.

Willm Mistral, an expert in substance misuse and young people at the University of Bath in southwest England, says it's difficult for the government to interfere "because we live in a free-market economy." Even lawmaker John Grogan says he doesn't want to end up with a system where "politicians name the price of beer."

But both say it's time for more social responsibility on the part of retailers. "There has to be a social repsonsiblity shown by industry, not just publicans but by the people who manufacture and market alcohol on a very large scale," says Dr. Mistral.

Mr. Grogan says that the government could prevail on retailers to stop selling alcohol below cost to entice customers who will then also buy other products from the store.

"Over recent years retailers have had a pretty easy ride and have said that marketing alcohol is just like marketing baked beans. That's probably changing now, because of the changing public mood, and in the next year they'll have to do something."

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