Minimum booze cost ‘step in right direction’
SPALDING landlords and police have welcomed calls by Prime Minister David Cameron for measures to help ensure responsible drinking.
Mr Cameron has vowed to launch a new strategy to tackle the “scandal” of drunkenness and alcohol abuse which blight many town centres on Friday and Saturday nights.
One of the measures that could be included come the autumn is a minimum price on alcohol, which could see the cost of supermarket own brand bottle of vodka rise from £8.35 to £11.85 and a cheap bottle of wine from £3.75 to £4.20.
It is hoped that it will discourage people from binge drinking and getting “pre-loaded” before they go out for a night in town.
Insp Rod Rose, of Lincolnshire Police, said: “Many people choose to buy cheaper alcohol from supermarkets to drink before they go out because at the moment some alcohol is very cheap.
“If a minimum price was introduced it might result in a reversal of that trend.
“People would still only have the same amount of money but if they spent it in pubs and clubs they would not have so much alcohol and therefore not get so intoxicated and would not be so incapable of behaving themselves.
“A lot of problems we face at the moment are because people are coming into town after having so much to drink at home first.
“It is the police and health services who have to pick up the pieces when people get out of control”
Matt Clark, owner of Spalding’s Loaded nightclub, said there is a definite trend of people drinking at home before a night out.
“He said: “Our venues are predominantly entertainment so we don’t rely so much on the sale of alcohol but pubs and bars need those sales to stay alive.
“I think people definitely do pre-load because we have definitely seen an increase in the number of people coming to Loaded straight from home who are already inebriated.”
And Pete Williams, landlord of the Punchbowl in New Road, said: “A lot of people don’t come into town now until 10pm or 11pm and they are already well oiled, then they may only buy two drinks in the pub until closing time.
“They come in to enjoy the ambience but they are already at the alcohol level they want to be at to enjoy the evening and I don’t get the benefit of taking their money.
“So I would welcome a minimum charge, it would be a miniscule amount of help but it’s a step in the right direction.”
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Spalding
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: East
Comments
There are 13 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
ourtownsdead
Sunday, February 26, 2012 at 02:25 PMeducating ....or action !! i know what i would choose. you in politics mr angry ??? you sure sound like one !!!! stop flapping around everyone...get the laws changed now on the street drinking for the better of the town. run a survey free press...get out there and ask 3,000 locals what they reckon. oh...3,000 locals survey...sounds like another con...oops !!!
Mr Angry of Tonbridge
Sunday, February 26, 2012 at 10:52 AMLook at our history. We can drink so much because we are used to drinking. We made beer because water made us ill. The solution is educating drinkers into knowing that they do not have to binge in order to enjoy themselves because pubs and clubs are open later these days. Our government says that drink is cheap, I'm not so sure that people on minimum wage, and there's a lot of them, would agree that even £1 a pint from a supermarket is cheap. I've never been in Loaded, I wonder what a pint costs in there? Britain has a tradition of alcohol abuse. What has changed is the ways that newsinformation is spread. In the old days, Sam Smith getting drunk in Gedney Drove End was kept in the village because there was little travel and that tidbit would not interest people elsewhere. These days if Sam Smith gets drunk, it's Tweeted, mentioned on Facebook, with pictures taken on mobile phones sent as attachments to e-mails and sometimes all over the Free PressGuardian because he got arrested for being drunk and incapable.
joggaju
Friday, February 24, 2012 at 11:31 AM#10 Our Police work dam hard in our area to keep crime levels down but without the backing of the courts and the government they must surely feel very dishartened at times too. Give them a break or go and try the job yourself.
ourtownsdead
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 10:37 AMspot on lazy daisy. it really is that simple. but then come on...we really don't want to overwork our poor police now do we...bless em !!!!
Lazy Daisy
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 07:54 AMI think that a national ban on drinking alcohol in public places is the only way. Don't give me that "bottle wine with a picnic" stuff. If you need alcohol, you have a problem. Drink at home or on licenced premises. Enforce it strictly and we'll all reap the benefits.
HollygoLula
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 07:42 PM@7....maybe the best way to pay is to tax pubs and takeaways for the mess THEIR customers leave behind? After all, why should someone who buys alcohol to consume at home pay any more? .......its not them causing all the aggro?
choppy
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 07:11 PMBest way to deal with binge drinking might be to charge the full cost to these irresponsible few of medical assistance and police officers time dealing with these parasites that make life uncomfotable for the rest of the responsible people. Hitting them in the pocket could wake them up to reality. This could also be financially helpfull to the police & NHS budgets,
joggaju
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 02:05 PM#5 I totally agree in fact i would go one step further and say that I wouldnt drink in any of the pubs in Spalding (apart from the Red Lion). Price increases will not stop the problem - if individuals want a drink they will pay any price and lets be honest the new EU minimarkets will still sell it cheap and serve anyone who wants to buy it. #3 Whilst I agree with you partly about the all day drinking on the streets of Spalding, our local PCSOs are doing their best to eradicate this problem but with not enough manpower it is difficult (Mr. Cameron ought to put his thoughts to more Police on the streets) and it is not just our incomers who are doing it - there are several local British men to be seen doing the same.
HollygoLula
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 11:46 AMThink Pete Williams said it all......its ok to drink as long as landlords are taking the money :(. Too much big brother here. Perhaps the pubs in Spalding would fare better if they changed their 'look' to a more traditional pub? I'll be honest, i never go in any pub that has the need for doormen.
CampaigningForSpalding
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 11:23 AMAnother successful announcement by 'call me Dave', oops! Lets not forget his desperation to rid the Country of the elderly, poor and disabled - now, who else did that in the 40's? 'Call me Dave' has spent far too much time in admiration of Orwell's 1984 master piece and his efforts to bring the novel into real life practice are becoming tiresome. We never did need a totalitarian Nanny State and we certainly don't now, but thank you for the offer - those of both nationalistic and libertarian views need to start speaking up as if he or his dire opposition socialist party, of which now admits to allowing 500'000 migrants into the UK without any form of identity checking from outside of the EU to purposely transform the identity of the Country, ever get another successive term we may aswell start putting our blue overalls on and pray we don't get summoned to the Ministry of love for our thought crimes.
ourtownsdead
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 10:45 AMblights towns on friday and saturday nights...what crap. he wan't to join our local council leader who too has blinkers on and come and see the daily drinking going on our streets. yes...back to the migrant issue again. i am not backing down on this either. so i take it this new idea would have all the cheap booze found in these eastern european shops taken off the shelves eh ???mmmmm, me thinks it just won't happen. oh, anyone that wants to join a new immigration issues of spalding group on FB then here is the link............. http:www.facebook.comgroups234130760012996 seems free press deleted it on there page....sums up why they won't run story's like these issues....racist towards there own and against our freedom of speech !!!!!!!!!!
mavrick
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 10:38 AMwe work hard all week and we like a drink at the weekends but we chose to stay in so why should we have to pay more for our drink when the youngsters can't control what they are drinking .If they keep getting drunk make them paye for ambulances and the police and if they are on benefits stop some of it . yet again we are being punished for other peoples down falls.
bertie65
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 10:21 AMwhat a load of old cobblers all its going to do is put more money in the governments pockets,if they were really interested in stopping binge drinking the only way to do it is take the alcahol liecences away from corner shops offsales and supermrkts. and let only pubs, clubs, hotels and resterants sell alcahol this is the only way to control the consumtion of booze, when i was a lad if you wanted booze in your house you bought it from a pub and no way was you allowed in pubs under the age of 18 even with your perents
Page 1 of 1
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.