Trade fearful of lowest ever festive prices in supermarkets

Fears are growing that the UK's supermarket chains are preparing to pack their store shelves with some of the lowest Christmas alcohol prices ever witnessed.

A festive free-for-all could see premium-strength Stella lager available for less than the 35p-a-pint price offered to shoppers in some stores last year. Standard lager could be on sale for even less, as low as 30p a pint, with customers encouraged to obtain discounts on volume purchases.

Critics say customers could be confronted by a "more you buy, cheaper they come" offer. The big chains are saddled with stocks of booze that have remained unsold thanks to the summer wash-out.

Trade leaders and pub chiefs are anxiously awaiting details of Christmas supermarket prices, normally announced in early November.

MP John Grogan, who has led a campaign over superstore loss-leader prices, said he feared the big stores would ignore trade concern over discounting.

"If these predictions ring true, it's tantamount to raising two fingers at attempts by the Government to bring some sort of sanity into this sort of pricing," he said.

Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations chief executive Tony Payne said: "We will have to wait to see what sort of offers and promotions emerge this year, but if prices are going to be as low as predicted, something has clearly got to be done and the Government has to act."

Bill Simmons, of brewer Fuller's, said a real "bunfight" was on the cards. "People have warehouses of beer and are looking to get rid of it."

InBev UK's Steve McAllister said he expected to see Christmas promotions based on a couple of bulk packs rather than straight price deals.