Manchester seeks duty cut on plastic

Licensees in Manchester are to lobby drinks firms to supply plastic bottles at the same price as glass equivalents.

Members of the 600-strong Manchester Pub and Club Network are also backing calls by the Bar Entertainment and Dance Association (BEDA) for a duty cut on plastic bottles. This follows a commitment, taken at the March meeting of the network, to push towards greater use of plastic vessels in nightclubs and larger pubs.

The network will write to major brewers and drinks producers to try to persuade them to offer affordable plastic bottles.

A spokesman for the network said: "As it stands, most of the leading brands already offer a plastic bottle option, but for a more expensive price.

"To show good faith, and to reflect the fact that brewers are taking their social responsibility seriously, we are asking them to sell and supply plastic for the same price as glass."

Network chairman David Hollins pointed out that a case of 24 plastic bottles could cost as much as £9 more than its glass equivalent.

"It is a very significant increase and has to be viable for operators," Hollins said. "At the moment there's a large price disincentive to take them on."

Hollins, who is also licensee at the Hidden bar in the high street, pointed to the affordable bottles offered for brands such as Stella Artois and Grolsch, and said all drinks companies should supply affordable plastic bottles.

He said there was a more urgent need to scrap glass bottles, rather than other glass containers, because the increasing use of shatterproof pint glasses has meant that attacks with bottles are now far more common than those with other glass containers.

Last year BEDA chief execu-tive Jon Collins wrote to the Home Office enquiring about the possibility of securing a temporary duty cut for plastic containers, in order to encourage a greater number of venues to stock them.