Fury over Glasgow's drinks-promo move

by Mairi Clark Glasgow Licensing Board has outraged licensees across the city by introducing its controversial new policy banning drinks promotions a month early and applying it with immediate effect. The new rules ­ which have been brought in just three weeks after the board alerted licensees to a new policy banning promotions from January 2004 ­ come just a week before the crucial run-up to New Year. It means licensees will effectively either have to pull all promotions ­ happy hours, drinks promotions or any form of "inducement" ­ or risk running into trouble with the board. Glasgow Licensing Board's Licensing Policy Monitoring & Enforcement Unit has been empowered by board chairman Gordon Macdiarmid to ensure that the policy objectives are achieved. The move has been slammed by the trade and licensing lawyers across Glasgow, who are concerned that the board's determination to outlaw drinks promotions is "using a sledgehammer to squash a nut", according to one. Robin Morton, of licensing firm Brunton Miller, and a part-owner of Brel in Glasgow, said the move was akin to "putting a black shroud over every pub, bar, restaurant and supermarket". "Literally it says you can't invite people into your pub or bar as it says inducement'," he said. "They have not thought it through. We [Brel] ­ part of the Baby Grand Group ­ are running a promotion over Christmas that involves loyalty vouchers which will entitle people to a free bottle of wine and £5 off a meal. Now ­ even though it's a food-led offer andpeople would only be having abottle of wine, which they would have paid for anyway, with their meal ­ that comes under the policy. "The promotion has cost us over five figures to put together in printing costs and everything. We're still going to run it, but in a different way. It also covers all licensed premises, so it means supermarkets and off-licences will have to comply. It's using a sledgehammer to crush a nut. They've also only sent it to the actual licensed premises, not to the lawyers, so it could lie unopened in some." Patchwork licensing starts to show The radical moves by Glasgow Licensing Board highlight trade fears that licensing boards feel empowered by the Nicholson recommendations and are introducing a patchwork effect of licensing across Scotland. Policies are now being introduced gradually across Scotland with some licensing boards implementing minimum-pricing policies and others introducing codes of conduct. Glasgow's new drinks promo policy ­ which had been due to come into effect in January ­ was to have been enforced as each licensed outlet applied to the board for its extension renewal. This would have created unfair competition between pubs that had signed up to the policy and pubs that had not. However, the new policy that's now being introduced immediately and across the board, is being seen as an attempt to level that unfair playing field.