Supermarkets selling booze at 1980s prices

By Ewan Turney

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Supermarket Asda

Supermarkets are selling below cost
Supermarkets are selling below cost
Supermarkets are selling alcohol below 1980s prices, according to an investigation by Scottish paper the Sunday Mail. The paper revealed that Asda is...

Supermarkets are selling alcohol below 1980s prices, according to an investigation by Scottish paper the Sunday Mail.

The paper revealed that Asda is selling a red wine for £2 a bottle, which would have cost £2.15 in 1983. If the price had risen in line with inflation, it should now cost £5.42.

The Retail Price Index has risen 152% since 1983 but prices of alcohol in the supermarket have not risen anywhere near in line. For example, a bottle of premium vodka has risen in price by just 33%.

The investigation comes just days after SMPs voted against raising the off-trade purchase age to 21.

"The big four supermarkets are charging pocket money prices for alcohol," Paul Waterson, chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, told the paper.

"They are using them as loss leaders to get people to buy other groceries.

"We are turning into a nation of stay-at-home boozers — sitting in our armchairs getting sozzled on cheap wine. The bar trade just cannot compete.

"We know that young people now get drunk at home on cheap drink then come into town later at night."

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