The war on drinkers carrys on.

Oh yes the demon booze, cause of all societys ills according to some.

First up we have calls to tighten up the rules on who can sell booze.

Councils are urging the Government to make alcohol licensing more restrictive — but also to help with business rates for struggling small firms.

A ban on pubs being sold with restrictive covenants, which force change of use, is also suggested.
The calls were made in submissions, seen by the Morning Advertiser, as part of the Sustainable Communities Act.
Councils were asked to suggest changes to laws that would improve the quality of life in their area and several ideas relate to pubs.
In its submission for the Act, Bury urged that a public health objective be added to the Licensing Act, mirroring the approach in Scotland. Liverpool agreed, and also wanted a public health test for planning applications.
Other suggestions included having a “sufficiency” test for new licences (Darlington) and extending the notice period for temporary events notices (Islington).
The off-trade was also targeted. Kettering called for “powers to prevent supermarkets selling alcohol below a certain price floor”, and Liverpool wanted to ban alcohol sales at petrol stations.

Then we have Rotherham council asking bar owners to sign up to a “voluntary” code of conduct that includes a form of minimum pricing at £1 per drink.

The code, drawn up by the police and local council with the help of licensees, will also outlaw all-inclusive deals and ensure door prices aren’t connected to the sale of alcohol. It also commits venues to abide by Challenge 21, mirroring “contracts” signed by hosts in Bexley, Kent.

The only permissible drinks deal will be “two-for-one” offers where the price of a single drink does not fall below £1. And just one free drink will be allowed in exchange for a door charge where customers must arrive before midnight.

Police deny they’re following the lead of Oldham, which has attempted to impose restrictive trading conditions with the threat of a licence review.

PC Dave Thompson said: “We are trying to encourage licensees to work in a responsible manner through a voluntary code of conduct.

Of course any bar that refuses to take part in this “voluntary” code of conduct will find that it comes under pressure and may find its license not being renewed.

And ever the one to jump on a fucking bandwagon spam has been chucking his 2p worth into the mix. Camercon pledges to act on demonic cheap booze.

Cameron spent the night on patrol with police in Hull and reiterated Tory plans to increase tax on high strength drinks.

From http://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/

The Tories’ plans to triple duty on “high-strength” beers and ciders are ill-considered, indiscriminate and unlikely to achieve their stated objectives. They may put people off drinking the likes of Special Brew and Diamond White, but they will also impact on high-quality strong ales such as Robinson’s Old Tom, recently voted world’s best ale, Belgian imports such as Chimay and Duvel, and the products of independent cidermakers. These products are consumed responsibly by discerning drinkers and already are often relatively expensive in terms of price per alcohol unit.

He said a Tory Government would look at the “unbelievably low prices of some alcohol" and look to tighten up licensing laws on the sale of late night alcohol from kebab and convenience stores.

"Drink-related violence and drink-related crime are a massive problem in our country," he said. "We need to look at the unbelievable availability of very cheap drink, getting three litres of cider for £1.99, at all hours of day and night. We've got to do something about this."

The British Beer and Pub Association welcomed Cameron's comments. "We are very interested in seeing the Conservative Party’s detailed plans to tackle alcohol misuse when they are published," said director of communications Mark Hastings.

"We have been discussing a range of ideas like this with the Tories for some months now. Many of these ideas look very positive — a tax system that does not penalize a low strength drink like beer, tough enforcement of existing laws against problem premises and drunken louts and action to tackle irresponsible promotions by supermarkets.

"Effective policy needs the right balance of individual and company responsibility and accountability. We very much look forward to further discussions with the Conservatives on the detail of these proposals."

Blah blah blah. Look its simple, the vast majority. The silent mass of people drink and do not get into any trouble what so ever.

They do not end up puking over some junior doctors shoes at half three on a Saturday Morning.

Neither do they go home, give the good lady wife a sound kicking and end up in the police cells sleeping it all off.

A small minority do, yet millions of folk have a drink each an every night and carry with normal life the next day.

What Cameron misses is the multi pronged attack on the pub trade.

First up the smoking ban, figures since it was brought in have shown that people are staying home and as a direct result pubs are closing at record levels. Pub closures rocketed from 2 a week to 39 a week. Latest figures suggest the rate of closures has now reached 52 a week.

What Cameron needs to do is push for harder punishments for those who end up before the courts and leave the rest of us the fuck alone, that is the way to go.

Oh and close down the fake charity industry. DK's site has a good piece on these vile New Labour funded cuntmonkeys.

Expect New Labour Twitter Czar Kerry McCarthy MP to do her best in spreading the health message that drinkers need to be taxed. As well as her crying about being hard done by. Much like she says nothing with regards her expenses.She also hates private schooling. Hat tip to Dazed an confused for the pic.

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