It's time for action

MP John Grogan outlines his concerns for licensees and urges pubs to respond.

In a call to arms, MP and trade supporter John Grogan last week urged the trade to take action if it wanted to avoid more regulation and unworkable licensing conditions.

Speaking to the British Institute of Innkeeping in Cheltenham ­ before the new Ofcom advertising code was announced ­ Grogan who is chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group, outlined key issues affecting the future of the pub industry.

Here, the Morning Advertiser prints extracts from his speech, where he spells out his fears for the trade.

Binge drinking

The industry should be pushing for the discussion to be more evidence-based and less concerned with hearsay.

The Government's definition of binge drinking deems eight units of alcohol per day as the limit for men and this is over a full 24-hour period, so could be made up of four at lunch and another four in the evening, for example. It is a sloppy definition. I dare say a few of us at this event might be defined as binge drinkers by the end of the day. The Government should recognise that people go out to get merry and always have done. People want to feel different on their Friday or Saturday evening than they do on a Monday morning.

There is much more research to do to define what the actual problem is. Hitherto, the Government has held that 70% of A&E admissions were alcohol-related. But the summer sting campaign tracked 22 of these depart-ments to find only 20% of entries were alcohol-related. We need to look to define the problem more accurately than we have recently.

A final example, ministers have claimed that drinking venues can accommodate up to 10,000 people but I struggle to think where these places are.

Decisive action

We've been talking for long enough ­ we need to take action. There's never going to be one big idea to solve the whole problem because there are too many different problems. The industry is getting there in small steps and that's the best way forward.

Six months ago the Government and the industry were close to agreeing measures on unit labelling but it hasn't happened yet because of continuing delay, mainly it seems on the Government's side. We have to speed up the process on both sides.

Department for Culture Media & Sport (DCMS)

The issue of licensing should stay firmly within the jurisdiction of the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and not be returned to the Home Office. The hospitality industry is a modern industry where men and women can become serious business people and this does not sit well with the Home Office, which deals with criminals.

A new tax on licensed premises

The Home Office should drop the idea of introducing extra taxes on licensed premises in town and city areas. The Business Improvement Districts scheme is a better alternative, where different areas can vote and come to an agreement, and all interests have a say in the process.

Licensing policy

The Morning Advertiser's recent report on selected draft licensing policies highlights how ridiculous some of them can be. Take Hull for example. It requires that "a first-aid box shall be provided and its contents shall comply with the content list in Appendix H. No other contents are permitted." North Lincolnshire states their "advertising application shall be advertised on the premises by means of an A3 notice", which must be orange with black writing. That really is something, isn't it?

It is vital that the trade makes contact with local licensing committees and makes contributions to getting these policies right before they are adopted.

Gambling

The second reading of the Gambling Bill took place in parliament this week. The Bill in its present form poses a considerable threat to pubs not only from mega casinos but also because restrictions on AWP machines look likely to tighten. The mechanisms for control of the new casinos are a cause for concern. The present law was introduced in the '60s because of people like the Kray brothers and also because of the impact of allowing too many operators. We should, therefore, liberalise with great caution.

Ofcom regulations

The proposed new code on alcohol advertising threatens to ban an estimated 80% of current adverts. This is one to lobby on for the industry. There's enough humour in UK advertising, especially alcohol, which should not be lost. There are already some very strict codes in place.

Ofcom should scale back on this and have more time to do things in terms of Sky and its control over football coverage. They need to take a look at this relationship. You can tell a monopoly by the relationship between the supplier and the consumer, whether there's good customer service, whether phone calls are returned. Is this a harmonious, competitive environment? I'm not sure.

Police

The chief constable of Nottinghamshire, Stephen Green recently ruled out any possible relationship with the industry. That really isn't the sort of attitude we need. The police have shown over the summer what they can do to help. Licensees need to pull together with them to combat under-age drinking through the PASS card scheme. We need to take this very seriously and give more support on this issue.

Beer and Food

Beer has been promoted as one of the finer things in life in recent months. The industry's effort to promote beer with the consumption of food is a good example of responsible drinks retailing. The trade is proving successful in cleaning up the image of beer. We are seeing an article about beer and food matching for every article about binge drinking.