BEDA's Hayes in discount blast
By The PMA Team Nightclub operator John Hayes who is chairman of the Bar Entertainment and Dance Asso-ciation (BEDA) has called for a Perth-style minimum pricing policy to be set up in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, where he has traded for 30 years. Hayes, who owns the £1.5m Club 2000 café bar, restaurant and nightclub complex, wants more regulation on minimum pricing to prevent deep discounting which "encourages binge-drinking". The Perth licensing board scheme, which has been approved by the Office of Fair Trading, has set minimum prices for operators in return for later hours there is a minimum of £1.50 for a pint of standard lager, for example. Hayes told the Morning Advertiser: "I'd love a pilot scheme in Scunthorpe similar to the one in Perth." Hayes said Scunthorpe was suffering the same "over-saturation" of premises seen in many towns and cities in the UK. "It's a small town and late night venues can probably accommodate 5,000 people but there's probably only 3,000 people out on a good night. "Scunthorpe's had the same problem as many other towns and cities with magistrates granting far too many licences. "Magistrates decided to take need out of the argument for a licence and thought the market would regulate itself. But more premises does not necessarily mean better. The culture that's been created is stopping more and more of the mature market coming into town centres. It's an act of suicide because it stops people coming into the town centres. "The discounting creates anti-social behaviour," he argues. "You are creating binge-drinking on the high street." Most public houses and clubs made their profits on a Friday and Saturday night and they're having to discount because of over-capacity, he said. Competing on price means an ever-decreasing circle, which is "lowering standards throughout the industry". His own nightclub used to offer reduced prices in the week but the new climate means even at the weekends there are offers draught lager, for example, at £2. "We all used to discount mid-week we now discount Friday and Saturday and that used to be unheard of," he says. However, it is the more radical discounts that angers Hayes and, he thinks, leads to binge-drinking. "Discounting means people put more down their throats, which often leads to anti-social behaviour." Edinburgh initiative over deep discounting Edinburgh Council is taking action over deep discounting, which could be made a thing of the past if a new byelaw on promotions is backed. Councillors are supporting a proposal to introduce a byelaw which would force pubs to run any drinks promotion for a minimum period of 24 hours which the council believes would prevent pubs from offering extreme discounts. Licensing officials are being asked to draw up a similar scheme to that being considered by Glasgow City Council to crackdown on deep discounting. Both the Edinburgh and the Glasgow scheme would need the backing of the Scottish Executive to make the byelaws legal which would not happen until after the May elections. Paul Waterson, chief executive of the SLTA, said: "The problem has been worse in Edinburgh than Glasgow over the last few years because the city council has granted more licence extensions and issued more licences. We've been campaigning on this issue since the 70s, so anything that is achieved is a major step forward.
