Trade needs a unified front

Trade bodies never get a particularly good press. The sheer impossibility of stopping the torrent of red tape and misguided initiatives that streams out of Westminster means they're seen to fail more often than they succeed. And at a time when Government is desperate to be popularly perceived as "on top of alcohol", it's been particularly difficult to persuade politicians that this industry is part of the solution rather than the bulk of the problem.

Small wonder then that trade commentators so regularly urge the industry's many lobbying bodies to join together and become a more powerful force.

By unifying and being able to speak for the entire sector, so the argument goes, the unified body is

far better able to speak authoritatively in the corridors of power. And this is not least because the Government can no longer play one sector off against another as it's done so regularly and with such disastrous results for the trade over decades and particularly recently.

It was thinking along these lines that earlier this year led the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) and the Bar Entertainment & Dance Association (Beda) to table serious discussions about merging their operations. The Licensing Act had so changed the licensed trade and entertainment landscape that there was far more to be gained from working closely with companies that until recently were seen as bitter rivals. Now, there are so many common licensing and regulatory issues that need a unified, joined-up approach if they're to be tackled successfully.

The vision was beguiling, and talks had seemed to be progressing well on both sides, with some members convinced full merger was likely before the year was out. But then in late summer talks stalled, and at the moment there seems no possibility of merger in the near future.

ALMR is still as wedded to the concept as it has been from the start. Beda is more divided. Its members have yet to be persuaded they are stronger as part of one body than they would be ploughing their own furrow. A lot of talking has yet to be done in the Beda council chamber.

For the industry, it would be a tragedy if the merger talks were to flounder. There is so much to be gained from a single voice for pub, bar and late-night retailers - and so much at stake if the lack of unity means the imposition of polycarbonates, paid-for-policing and similar disasters.