THE BARGAIN BOOZE BONANZA
BARS and supermarkets in Scotland are to be investigated for apparently offering their customers ‘illegal’ or ‘irresponsible’ deals on cut price alcohol, despite new laws introduced by the Scottish Government to crack down on the sale of bargain booze.
With outlets across the country still running ‘multi-buy’ promotions making it cheaper to buy greater quantities of drink, the SNP is ordering licensing authorities to conduct a review of the deals on offer.
Among knockdown prices discovered in Scotland last week by The Scottish Mail on Sunday were:
Rail passengers being offered ‘multibuy’ discounts such as three small bottles of wine for £12 instead of £4.50 each.
Pubs offering ‘go large’ deals such as a double measure of whisky for £3.20, just £1 more than a single.
Bars selling ‘bulk purchase’ offers such as three for £5 on various ‘shots’.
Supermarkets selling a 700ml bottle of vodka for £15.99 – next to a bigger one-litre bottle of the same spirit for only £15. In particular, two of Britain’s biggest pub companies are to be investigated over their cutprice deals. Greene King and JD Wetherspoon are both facing an official probe after it emerged some of their pubs are continuing to offer promotions which have been banned in Scotland.
And the Scottish Government last night ordered licensing chiefs across Scotland to consider shutting down any bars still touting deals such as ‘buy one get one free’ or ‘add an extra shot for £1’.
The call came after licensing experts told The Scottish Mail on Sunday they believed some offers in Greene King’s Hungry Horse pubs and bars operated by JD Wetherspoon were illegal.
Council licensing officers pledged to investigate the deals and will consider action against the firms if they are found to have broken the law.
Supermarkets were also criticised for breaching ‘the spirit of the law’ by offering massive discounts when customers buy alcohol in bigger packs.
A Scottish Government source said: ‘Irresponsible promotions are set out in mandatory conditions applied to each alcohol premises licence. Breach of a mandatory condition could lead to the review and ultimately revocation of a premises licence.
‘We would therefore expect local authorities and the licensed trade to take compliance seriously.’
The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 outlaws irresponsible promotions such as ‘buy one get one free’ deals in bars, and licensing experts believe a series of deals currently on offer in the two pub chains are illegal. The Hungry Horse website said its Scottish pubs offer deals including ‘Jägerbombs’ – an explosive combination of a shot of Jägermeister and a highenergy drink – for £3 each or two for £5 – while shots including vodka, Sambuca and tequila are £2 each or six for £10.
Checks with one of the chain’s pubs, in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, confirmed the offers were available to customers last week.
JD Wetherspoon is also offering a promotion whereby customers can buy an extra shot of spirits including whisky, rum and vodka for just £1 extra – which is said to be a clear breach of the law.
Scottish Government guidance on the legislation states that ‘irresponsible’ promotions are banned and that one of the ways in which a drinks promotion in respect of on-sales of alcohol can be irresponsible is if it ‘involves the supply of an alcoholic drink free of charge or at a reduced price on the purchase of one or more drinks’.
Leading licensing expert John
Supermarkets breaching the spirit of the law with offers of big discounts Revealed, how beer still costs less than water... making a mockery of the SNP ban on multibuy offers
Loudon, chairman of the Edinburgh Licensing Forum and a former convener of the Law Society of Scotland’s licensing law sub-committee, said: ‘They should not be offering these deals. Offering spirits for £1 extra is not allowed – it should be twice the price if it is the same measure. If half a gill is £1, a whole gill should be £2. If you offer double quantity it should be twice the price.
‘A lot of us don’t like laws about things that you can and can’t do but if the law is there you are rather stuck with it.’
Virgin Trains East Coast, which runs trains between Aberdeen and London, is also advertising that ‘multi-buy deals are available on all beers, ciders and wines’ on its services. Offers include a ‘three for £12’ deal on small bottles of wine, which normally cost £4.50 each.
Many supermarkets are also offering discounts if customers buy more alcohol – despite the Licensing (Scotland) Act preventing retailers from selling alcoholic drinks ‘packaged together’ at a lower price than the customer could buy the same products individually.
Morrisons is selling one litre bottles of Smirnoff Vodka for £15 – right next to 700 millilitre bottles for £15.99. Asda is offering single 568ml bottles of Magners pear cider at £1.50 – equivalent to £2.64 per litre – while a box of eight 500ml bottles costs £8, or only £2 per litre.
Tesco also offers 500ml bottles of Kopparberg cider for £2, or £4 per litre, while four 330ml bottles are £5, or £3.79 per litre. As different sized bottles are classed as different products, Mr Loudon said such deals were ‘a very good example of how to get around the legislation’.
Scottish Labour public health spokesman Richard Simpson said: ‘The examples of multi-buy promotions in pubs are illegal. Parliament’s intention was absolutely clear through the combination of the Licensing Act 2005 and the Alcohol (Scotland) Act 2010: discounting for volume was to be illegal.
‘The supermarkets have got around it when offering multipacks by saying they are different products. The law-makers have realised they have been got at by them selling a 20-pack at 80p a can and a four-pack at £1 a can. Supermarkets are breaking the spirit of the law by doing that, but it is not illegal. Parliament’s desire was clearly expressed in all the debates and that was that discounting alcohol by volume was to be banned. Anyone that does not follow that is in breach of that legislation. Licensing Standards Officers should be going in and prosecuting pubs which breach this. The Scottish Government should be acting on this. It is just not good enough that there has not been action.’
Hungry Horse last night confirmed it had now removed alcohol promotions from the online menus of its Scottish pubs and instructed its staff north of the Border not to offer the same deals available in England and Wales.
It took the action after it emerged that West Dunbartonshire Council had launched an investigation into the deals at Hungry Horse’s Titan pub in Clydebank. A council spokesman said: ‘We will contact the licence holder about this matter and take any action if necessary.’
Glasgow City Council also said one of its licensing standards officers would look into offers available in JD Wetherspoon pubs. Insisting the chain’s offers were not illegal, a spokesman for the firm said: ‘Wetherspoon’s works within the law and we would disagree with that premise. We take our drinks pricing very seriously.’
Tesco said it would ‘never sell alcohol below cost’, while Asda said it operates ‘strictly in accordance with all alcohol legislation’. Morrisons said its spirits offer was ‘a short promotion for people entertaining friends at summer barbeques’.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We believe it is wrong that alcohol should be sold in a way that encourages excessive consumption and that offers should not be quantity-based, requiring extra alcohol to be purchased in order to take advantage of an offer. It is for local Licensing Boards to determine the acceptability of particular promotions.’
A spokesman for Virgin Trains East Coast said rail vehicles were exempt from requiring an alcohol licence but it was willing to discuss its promotions policy with the Scottish Government.
The Scottish Government should act on this. It’s not good enough there’s no action