James Wilmore: This is now a big deal
It's nice to see the national media catching up again with an issue with the pub trade has been banging on about for ages.
Supermarkets - the big chains - have been flogging multipacks of lager for ridiculously low prices for as long as I can remember.
In fact nearly two years ago, The Publican launched a campaign called Dump the Deals, urging MPs and supermarkets themselves to have a serious think about ditching these irresponsible offers.
Clearly, it's still going on. But for some reason in the past few months or so the issue has caught the attention of the nationals.
Asda was found selling a four-pack of Skol for 90p - cheaper than Evian water - while, Tesco has been found selling 18 bottles of Carlsberg Export lager for £5, effectively less than 30p a bottle. Every little helps, eh?
The Sun broke the first story, while the pub-hating/pub-loving (depending on the day of the week) Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph and London's Metro all picked up on the Tesco deal.
As is usual with these stories, Tesco rolled out its usual PR line that it is "committed to responsible alcohol retailing". A Tesco spokesperson also said it could tell from its Clubcard data that "the vast majority of alcohol bought at Tesco is bought as part of the family shop and buying patterns tell us that this sort of promotion is used by customers to stock up and not to drink more."
The thing is though, it was reported that Tesco stores were "under siege" as customers scrambled to get their hands on a crate, with some stores selling them at the rate of 100 per hour.
Mmm, so hundreds of people, while doing their weekly shop, suddenly decided they needed to stock up on cheap premium lager? Funny that.
But seriously, this "weekly shop" argument falls down because these offers seem to be on-going now. Surely "families" aren't getting through this much booze on a weekly basis.
The odd barbecue might see someone get through a couple of crates - but what about the rest of the year…with our climate?
Supply and demand, yes, ok, but as any responsible licensee will tell you, this is a drug we are dealing with here.
And though the pub trade still has work to do on this issue, only a small percentage (mainly late-night bars) are as blatant in selling cut-price drinks - and even then nowhere near the same volume.
Bottom line is, with everyone feeling the pinch and the cost of living soaring, the government will be nervous about seeing to be forcing prices up.
So what to do? The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind…
