Peer: mandatory code will stigmatise pubs

The mandatory code on alcohol is "potentially punitive" and will "stigmatise" well run pubs, according to one Peer.

Pubs received welcome support over the mandatory code, which bans a range of promotions and forces pubs to display unit information and offer smaller servings, during a Lords debate this week.

"I feel for the landlord of a well run pub or licensed premises because he has a vested interest in ensuring that his customers are not completely intoxicated and do not impact adversely on others there," said Baroness Finlay of Llandaff. "That incentive does not exist for the person on the supermarket check-out."

She added: "I am concerned that well run establishments, many of which are finding it difficult to survive in the current economic climate when they are locked into already financially crippling franchise agreements, will find it potentially punitive and feel that they are further stigmatised within society, rather than being built on as a way of helping people understand how to drink socially and responsibly."

However, Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer said she would table an ammendment to the bill to allow councils to require premises use polycarbonate instead of glass. "A change in the law to allow licensing authorities to require, when appropriate, that substitute materials for glass should be used is a simple one, giving power to local people to solve the problem locally," she said.

Miller also raised concerns over whether the restrictions would have an adverse effect on village halls and small community centres by imposing "significant burdens" like the Licensing Act.

Lord Patten questioned the wisdom of raising the maximum fine of consuming alcohol in a public place from £500 to £2,500. "What difference does upping the ante by so many thousand pounds actually do? It does nothing. It is just like provisions introduced with a fanfare, photo calls and all the rest of the spin-driven approach to law and order issues that has been the hallmark of this Administration since 1997."

He also raised the issue of why an Alcohol Disorder Zone had never been designated. "Will the Minister explain why—by January, this year at least—under earlier criminal justice legislation there has not yet been one designation of the alcohol disorder zones that the Home Office introduced not long ago?

"Here is alcohol disorder being a great problem — all that is in this Bill — and it is going to be got rid of by increasing a fine from this level to that level.

"Why has previous legislation that is on the statute book not even been used to deal with these issues?"