Licensees fear death of the superpub

The pub trade has hit back at claims that superpubs are contributing to underage drinking, binge drinking and public disorder.

This comes after Ireland's new Justice Minister Michael McDowell said he was planning to call time on Ireland's so-called superpubs, named because of their sheer size and capacity.

He believes that they are attracting the wrong crowd and his words have concerned licensees who think that the UK government could well follow suit if his plans go ahead.

But the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) and the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) say that the size of the pub has nothing to do with it.

They say that superpubs live by the same strict rules as any other pub and that licensees rigorously train barstaff and doorstaff to check the identification of customers to see if they are 18.

Chief executive of the BII John McNamara said: "The size of the pub is irrelevant - it's the management of the pub that counts. A small pub with 50 people in it that is badly run can have a more detrimental affect than a large pub with 200 people that is being well managed."

The BBPA's Mark Hastings agreed. He said: "Superpubs are a fodder of increasing innovation and diversification that can now be found in the pub trade. They show that as an industry we are listening to consumers. The size of a pub has nothing to do with underage drinking or encouraging binge drinking."

But Mr McDowell expressed "serious misgivings" about the development of superpubs saying they "create noise and nuisance for local residents and make controls on under-age and binge drinking more difficult to enforce".

He added that he would like to see a return to smaller licensed premises serving the needs of local communities and would be working over the next two years to achieve that.