4:44pm Thursday 18th March 2010
I must comment on the article about a “crackdown on boozing” (The Argus, March 12) that says “under new plans pubs and off-licences would be urged to stop stocking super-strength lager and from selling alcohol at less than cost price.”
What off-licences are these? Apart from a few independents, most major companies have gone out of business.
Young people are unable to afford to purchase alcohol at pub and off-licence prices.
The problem of binge drinking and alcohol abuse lies with supermarkets and hundreds of local shops selling alcohol at such low prices. The remaining pubs and off-licences are struggling to stay in business.
Having run a pub for the past six years and having just gone out of business due to the huge downturn in trade, I used to despair when supermarkets bombarded our television screens and filled national newspapers with adverts for alcoholic products at ridiculously low prices.
Beer prices were often cheaper than bottled water.
Bring drinking back to the proper places – bars, restaurants and pubs. This will not happen until councils or local government enforce a fixed minimum price per unit of alcohol.
J Gravenor
Hornby Road, Brighton
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