Alcohol Concern: 'We're not saying alcohol shouldn't be available'
"We are not anti-pub, far from it," insists Don Shenker, chief executive of Alcohol Concern.
In fact, he's a pub-goer who likes a "nice cold beer, usually a Beck's".
But the charity boss seems to have a problem with telling the strength of drinks.
"When I go into a pub, I have no idea what the ABVs are of draught beers, you have to ask ...and you feel a bit of a fool if you ask the staff."
And he follows this with a line revealing why he is still far from most licensees' Christmas card list. "I'd like to see pubs giving more positive messages around the risks of excessive drinking," he says.
Public health issue
But is it a surprising stance? No. Since Alcohol Concern was set up 26 years ago, with the help of a Department of Health grant (it still receives 25 per cent of its funding from the DoH), the charity's aim has been to raise awareness of drink as a public health issue.
And examining the current climate, it has done a pretty good job.
Alcohol-related "issues" and "binge-drinking" are now very near the top of the political agenda. Indeed, part of the government's recent plans to tear up the licensing regime tally with a number of Alcohol Concern's demands.
In some cases, it even sounds like the consultation plans have come straight from its modest East London offices. Among these are: making public health a licensing objective and giving more of a say to health groups on licensing issues.
Shenker, who has been the charity's top man since 2008, appears satisfied the government has listened to the health lobby.
He explains: "We've always said if there is a public health objective in the Licensing Act then we can say on public health grounds - look at the number of hospital admissions we have and the number of A&E admissions."
Balance of power
Shenker is convinced, under the current licensing regime, the "balance of power" is weighted unfairly in favour of pubs and club operators.
"It's just quite difficult for the local authorities to do anything," he says. "You have to seek a review of a licence, then the licensee can appeal against that and continue to operate as they like.
"The appeal can take forever and some pubcos and supermarkets have very well paid lawyers to act on their behalf, so the local authorities just give up."
Shenker argues licensing ties into one of the two key areas that needs to be addressed to tackle alcohol issues. One being availability, the other, affordability.
"I'm not saying alcohol shouldn't be available, but I think it should be better regulated," he says. "What we've seen in the last five or 10 years is an explosion as planning officers have allowed there to be more bars and clubs in town centres, which then compete on price."
And the price of alcohol is something that clearly concerns Shenker. "When you raise the price of alcohol, either through taxation or other means people consume less alcohol, then there's less harm," he says.
Off-trade reluctance
But what about the off-trade, surely they are the main culprits? Shenker acknowledges this but agrees there is a "reluctance" to act against the supermarkets.
"The difficult thing is the supermarkets bring in so much business and revenue for the country that upsetting the big companies is not something government's like to do," he says.
The coalition wants to ban the below-cost selling of alcohol, but Shenker, like many now in the drinks industry, is not convinced this can work.
"If you just have duty and VAT it does not cover enough of the market," he says.
So the answer? "We think the only solution that is workable and effective is minimum pricing."
But despite frequent and insistent calls for just that there is still little political will for the measure. As such, Alcohol Concern favours the idea of further tax hikes to get the price of alcohol up.
And he says he would back the idea of a lower duty rate for weaker strength beers. An "incentive" as he puts it's for brewers to make lower strength beers.
So, with the public health debate around alcohol showing no sign of abating, would it make sense for the industry to make more effort to engage with the likes of Alcohol Concern?
It may seem an unlikely approach. But Shenker agrees well-run pubs can be "part of the solution", adding: "We have nothing against the drinks industry making money, it's about how that can be achieved that balances public health."
Food for thought.
Don Shenker CV
Career
2008 - present
Alcohol Concern, chief executive
2005 - 2008
Alcohol Concern, director of policy
2002 - 2005
Addiction Support and Care Agency, executive director
