Back to Basics: Preventing underage drinking

Beating the problem of serving to underage drinkers is a top priority for licensees - especially since the recently announced government plan to introduce a 'two strikes and you're out' rule.

It comes after three years of Home Office-backed police sting operations designed to catch out pubs selling to minors. Or to put it another way, government 'show-boating' with high-profile campaigns "designed to entrap 17-year-olds using pubs" - at least that's the view of JD Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin in the latest issue of Wetherspoon News​.

It all makes sobering reading for the pub trade. If ever there was a time to get back to basics this is it.

Of all the issues facing licensees, the government's determination to eradicate underage drinking and sales to minors, and close problem premises, is perhaps the biggest threat. Get caught out and you could lose your licence - and your business.

Yet while other factors putting licensees under pressure, such as the economic squeeze, are out of your control, ensuring you don't serve alcohol to anyone under age and running a socially responsible pub are very much within your control.

The pub trade must be seen to be taking a strong line on tackling the issue of underage drinking.

Over a nine-month period last year Serve Legal carried out around 2,000 test purchases on behalf of different pubcos to test whether pubs were staying within the law. The pass rate remained fairly static throughout the period at around 40 per cent, with a slight dip in the two months before Christmas.

So there's plenty of room for improvement. The pub trade will need to up its game. In the current climate, complacency is not an option. Pub operators need to demonstrate an effective, focused process to improve performance, and demonstrate due diligence and professionalism to the government, police and local authorities.

From our experience this will happen due to a number of factors including:

• an awareness among staff on the ground that they are being randomly tested

• an increased focus from management on underage legislation

• a specific set of actions suggested from an analysis of how each pub operates.

Companies we work with in both the on and off-trade now see sustained improvements over time, which proves regular testing can help bring positive results. One company, for example, increased its pass rate by 300 per cent.

So what can you do to up your performance and make sure you don't fall foul of the authorities?

The first and easiest thing all pubs should do is make effective use of 'Challenge 21' material - and not just on the customer side of the bar.

During our site visits we measured the use of Challenge 21 campaign posters and the results show that the pass rate is higher where they are prominently placed at the till.

This demonstrates the pub's commitment to the campaign, and will raise staff awareness on the importance of checking customers' proof of age.

In fact use of Challenge 21 material should be increased generally so that all staff and customers are fully aware of this industry standard.

Carrying out your own test purchases is also a good way of testing and improving your performance.

Serve LegalServe Legal is an independent organisation which is working with a number of leading pubcos to help test and improve their systems for preventing underage drinking.

It was set up 18 months ago by Ed Heaver and Julian Sargeson, former chief executive of Laurel Pub Company, now managing director of Herald Inns & Bars.

It rigorously measures individual site performance on serving underage drinkers through anonymous visits by its team of more than 500 young-looking testers. This is to ensure staff are checking young people for ID and are refusing service when necessary."We are not out to try and deliberately catch out pubs," says Heaver.

"Our role is to improve the performance of frontline pub staff, the success of house training and effectiveness of operating systems."We do this by putting management and service procedures to the test, helping to initiate tighter controls by analysing the data collected and advising what actions can be taken to make improvements."

Serve Legal recommends

• Prominent use of Challenge 21 posters, for the benefit of barstaff as well as customers
• Effective and regular training for barstaff and doorstaff covering key subjects such as how to spot an underage customer, how to refuse service and how to defuse tricky conflict situations
• Stress the absolute need to ask for and check customer ID and ensure young people have an acceptable proof-of-age card with the PASS logo
• Tell staff to always err on the side of caution - if someone looks like they may be under age, ask for ID
• Encourage staff to be polite and helpful at all times
• Keep a detailed record of all admission and service refusals in a logbook or on the till system to demonstrate due diligence and show you manage a well-run pub.
• In the record Include date, time and the gender of the customer and member of staff responsible
• Carry out regular, random checks to test the effectiveness of your management and operating systems.