littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
Yep. There are normally laws against this kind of thing - cartels fixing prices.
Alcohol prices + combatting binge drinking
- Thread starter 89 Til Infinity
- Start date
_angel_
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Why must supermarket beer go up? Aren't there enough price rises as it is?
Who the hell is going to buy British "wine", perry and Italian/ German white wine at these proposed prices?
Why did the government think it would be a good idea to have everyone sober anyway?
To be honest it smacks of Labour to be honest.
I thought tories were supposed to be all for personal choices. Fucking hypocrites.
editor
hiraethified
Because it's killing pubs.
_angel_
.
So the answer is to make everything more expensive if you want to drink at home.
Why shouldn't you be able to have a drink at home at reasonable cost.
Putting the prices up is not going to make me drink in a pub. I can't remember the last time I had an alcoholic drink in a pub, I only go there during the daytime for food and a soft drink anyway.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
no, thats the smoking ban
_angel_
.
Think this one is the real answer.. the owners driving people out by putting prices up and up.
Mr.Bishie
pickled egg
My local is a free house - i'm paying £2.89 a pint from a local brewer (Dark Star). Go to well known brewery owned pub, & you'll be paying £3.60 - £4.00 for the same pint.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
This isn't going to touch pubs. Even Wetherspoons on special deals charges £2 a pint for drinks that are no more than 4 units. Pubs should be more expensive than supermarkets - you're also paying for service and a seat.
The gap between price in bar and price in supermarket is actually much narrower than in many other countries that have lower alcohol taxes.
Mr.Bishie
pickled egg
It was certainly a factor for a lot of pubs when the ban was first introduced, if they couldn't afford themselves, or from the brewery, to provide a warm & comfortable outdoor smoking area. But now, lots of outdoor smoking areas i've been into (Sidewinder in Brighton) are better than being inside the pub!
editor
hiraethified
Jeez. Do you want a world full of Wetherspoons? Not every pub belongs to that uber-chain and many are struggling really hard to survive - and one of the factors they keep on repeating is the dirt cheap price of supermarket beer.
_angel_
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I think you can still get pints locally here just under the £2 mark but not in Leeds centre..
editor
hiraethified
Pubs were already long in decline before the smoking ban kicked in. In fact, more pubs closed around me before the ban than after it.
Puddy_Tat
naturally fluffy
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
You think they are right? You think supermarket beer is 'dirt cheap'? I don't. I also don't think this price-fixing is aimed at people who can afford to drink in pubs.
You missed my point, btw, which is that all pub beer is already considerably more than this minimum price. Are you saying the minimum price should be even higher? You're not being very coherent in your arguments.
chilango
Hypothetical Wanker
Quite.
I doubt my single malts and pugliese wines will be affected by this.
(Not that I'm middle class you understand? Just have expensive taste in booze)
Mr.Bishie
pickled egg
Some breweries couldn't give a fuck if a pub they own goes under due to their increase in the cost of beer, or not providing a smoking area. Before I left Cornwall, one pub's landlord was involved with locals who built the smoking hut themselves. The brewery weren't interested.
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
We've done this before - there was a massive spike in pub closures when the ban came in.
mr steev
magic thought wizard
For sure. But then drinkers like that wouldn't be the targetted 'binge drinkers' either I suppose. Being poor/having to watch the cash is the common denominator, which is what I was trying to get at. Rather than the governments idea of a binge drinker, which is someone who doesn't necessarily drink everyday, but when they go out they drink too much iyswim
Sasaferrato
Super Refuser!
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
No, the govt defn of binge drinking is 3 pts in one session
mr steev
magic thought wizard
There was indeed!
2005 - 102 closed
2006 - 216 closed
2007 - 1,409 closed
2008 - 1, 665 closed (as of November
mr steev
magic thought wizard
Lol. So virtually everyone who drinks then
_angel_
.
They were trying to pass off anything more than one glass of wine as "binge drinking". Unless they're talking about those goldfish bowl sized glasses they are taking the piss!
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Anyway, if you go back to 1998 where I drank a pint of stella was £2.24. A can was £0.89 or £0.99 and of course there were all sorts of offies doing 6 for £5. Now a pint of stella's in the region of at least £3 and a can of stella's still about £1. So there's been a divergence between the two prices.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Yes
Ax^
Silly Rabbit
Aye it called tax
Balbi
Hey, Dean Yager!
Ax^
Silly Rabbit
Jesus, World of Wetherspoons sounds like the worst WoW Expansion ever
Playing WoW is like drinking in a weatherspoons full stop..
Just you meet a better class of people at the spoons..
littlebabyjesus
one of Maxwell's demons
It's not a straightforward argument that increasing supermarket booze prices helps pubs. There are all kinds of reasons why people go to pubs, and the budget for it is usually rather separate from the household budget, while supermarket shopping isn't. Make the supermarket bill higher through price-fixing the alcohol bought there, and that may well mean less money to spend down the pub.
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