Plastic won't solve violent behaviour
There is a growing trend within the police to insist that pubs, mainly in town centres at present, serve drinks in polycarbonate glasses. As can happen with new initiatives, this may become a more widespread practice over time.
If pubs end up serving drinks this way, we in the industry are going to have to grapple with an issue that could prove bigger than the controversy about smoking. The police and other organisations supporting the introduction of plastic glasses are rightly concerned about customer safety and public disorder, and I share their anxiety.
The behaviour of a minority of pub-goers, who have often consumed too much alcohol and end up causing problems for everyone else, is something the whole industry is working hard to eradicate. At JD Wetherspoon, we firmly believe that poor behaviour can be mitigated by attracting a broad cross- section of customers.
About 50% of our sales are linked to coffee, soft drinks and food. Our customers, and everyone else's, should not be asked to drink out of plastic glasses, based on the irresponsible behaviour of a tiny minority. In my view, it is unreasonable to ask people visiting pubs for an evening meal to drink their wine out of plastic glasses. Similarly, real-ale aficionados looking forward to a pint of Abbot or Pedigree ale are unlikely to return in a hurry to drink out of a polycarbonate pint pot!
Any sensible solution to problems of disorder must reflect the fact that decent customers will object to drinking from plastic vessels, leaving pubs with the minority who don't care what they drink from - thus exacerbating the problem.
In common with many pub operators, we carry out risk assessments, in accordance with requirements of the Licensing Act. For example, many of our pubs adjacent to Premier League football grounds voluntarily switch to plastic on match days.
All of the glasswear used in Wetherspoon pubs is toughened and shatters on impact, and we believe this should be standard across the industry. Although no pub is without incident, the industry is doing more now, I believe, than ever before to ensure that pubs are trouble-free and that customer safety is not compromised. But I firmly believe that switching to plastic glasses will, in the long-term, run contrary to the objective of eradicating violent incidents in pubs.
At a time when the industry is doing all it can to attract a wide variety of people to visit pubs, in the face of increasingly cheap supermarket prices, plastic glasses might put off exactly the type of customers - often mature - who can help mitigate behaviour amongst the young or irresponsible.
Forcing pubs to use plastic runs the risk of turning town- centre pubs, where most of the requests to use plastic glasses are currently aimed, into "ghettos" and benefit no-one.
People use town-centre pubs whilst they are working or shopping. If they get out of the habit of doing this because they find them unattractive, they are also less likely to use suburban or neighbourhood pubs.
Every pub will be tainted by policies which encourage a switch to plastic glasses - not just those in town centres.
l Police should not exceed their powers - Coulson, p22
