Mark Daniels: Tesco - not so super on underage sales
Like many publicans, I've long lamented the fact that supermarkets are one of the major culprits behind the bad press the on-trade receives. So often you can stand in a busy Tesco and watch as somebody purchasing alcohol chooses a checkout that is manned by somebody who is still young enough to have a set bedtime.
By law, the young checkout operator cannot sell the alcohol, so they shout three aisles up to a supervisor for permission, who looks down through the crowds of people and, from a distance, nods their head to approve the sale. From so far away, and with so many other people milling around, it is all but impossible for the supervisor to have been able to determine the purchaser's age unless they looked like Captain Birdseye.
I know, because it's often impossible to determine a young person's age when they're standing two feet away from you across an empty bar.
With such a simple way to get their hands on cheap alcohol, young people are able to purchase their booze, head to the local playground and get themselves fairly pie-eyed on ten cans of lager bought for a fiver, before bravado takes over and they head in to town to chance their arm in a grown-up's pub.
And it's at this point that the trouble starts. The landlord ends up copping the blame for getting the youngsters in to the state they're already in, and the underage binge drinkers aren't going to mention that they bought the booze from a supermarket because they're going to want to give it a go again next week.
Admittedly, the recent test done on Tesco stores was an in-house one and I commend them on having taken the decision to see where their stores stand. It must have come as a bit of a shock to senior management to discover that 40% of their stores failed the test. But we have to remember that whilst Tesco's attempts at global retail domination are moving faster than the Gulf Stream these days, there are other major superstores whose approach to sales and pricing is little different.
How long is it going to be before somebody realises that the beleaguered publican isn't always the one to blame and that tighter legislation is needed for off-trade suppliers like supermarkets?
