TRADING STANDARDS REVIEWS

TRADING STANDARDS REVIEWS

Proposed Additional Conditions for Regulated Drinks Promotions

It shall be a condition of the licence that during any regulated drinks promotion under this condition, the following conditions shall apply to the operators licence.

Consumption of alcohol must not be permitted within one metre of the bar;
One queue per bar should be formed of customers awaiting drinks.
The start of the queue must be at least one metre from the bar and should be marshaled by barriers and signage;
Consumption of alcohol must not be permitted whilst waiting in the queue;
In general, if a person leaves the queue, they must return to the rear, but operators may make provision for customers leaving the queue to go to the toilet;
At least one SIA licensed member of door staff should be assigned to each queue;
Alcohol may only be supplied over the bar (i.e. not table or waiter/ress service);
A person may queue to obtain drinks for themselves and one other person - no more than two drinks may be taken from the bar by each person in the queue;

It shall be a condition of the licence that any regulated drinks promotion is brought to the attention of the Licensing Authority and Greater Manchester Police at least 7 days in advance. In addition, for the duration of the regulated drinks promotion, the licence holder must commission Greater Manchester Police to provide two additional police officers for the purpose of patrolling the premises and its surrounding environs. A fee is payable for this to GMP at standard advertised rates.

For the purposes of these conditions a regulated drinks promotion is any promotion, marketing, sale or supply of alcohol between 21:00 hours and 05:00 hours that:

Offers to supply alcohol for less than 75p per unit of alcohol; or
Offers to supply alcohol for the payment of a fixed fee (such as payment on the door); or
Offers to supply alcohol where the purchase of one drink results in the supply of a free drink or drinks; or
Offers to supply alcohol in return for tickets or vouchers purchased on the premises; or
Offers a discount to purchasers of alcohol exceeding 20% (either through promotion voucher published in advance or ticket/voucher purchased on the premises).

Proposed Additional Condition for Door Supervison

It shall be a condition of this licence that, between 21:00 hours and 02:00 at least xx number of SIA licensed door supervisors are employed at the premises.

It shall be a condition of this licence that, between 02:00 and 30 minutes after closing time (if applicable), or during any regulated drinks promotion (see above), at least xx number of SIA licensed door supervisors are employed at the premises.

(the exact number will vary according to the size of the premises).

Grounds for Review

This application for review is brought by the Local Trading Standards Authority (weights and measures authority) as a responsible body under the Licensing Act 2003.

The applicant contends that:

Irresponsible drinks promotions encourage alcohol misuse and/or anti social behaviour;
The cumulative effect of irresponsible drinks promotions is to cause greater drunkenness, which in turn causes a rise in crime and disorder;
The attractiveness of irresponsible drinks promotions, particularly to young people, causes a risk to public safety - particularly if demand is not managed properly;
The effect of drinking excessive amounts of alcohol can be that people vomit or urinate in the streets, which is a public nuisance;
The cumulative effect of drinking alcohol over a series of hours at a series of venues (circuit drinking) within a defined area, means that the impact of the alcohol consumption worsens as drinking get later.

The applicant accepts that:

Licensed premises must be free to operate in a competitive commercial environment;
Drinks promotion is a legitimate way of:

Showcasing a new brand or product;
Increasing customer awareness of a product;
Introducing new customers to a product;
Providing a special offer to customers for a limited period on a popular or established product;
Boosting trade during quiet periods (e.g. early evening)

In many ways, irresponsible drinks promotions may not be a deliberate act by licence holders, but a function of the competitive market place;
There are no powers in the Licensing Act 2003 for the Licensing Authority to ban or prohibit drinks promotions, even if irresponsible.

This application for review is not seeking to ban or prohibit these promotions, although both the applicant and the responsible drinks trade, strongly discourage their use. However, the applicant is seeking to ensure that, if such promotions are run, adequate provision is made to ensure public safety, prevent public nuisance and prevent crime and disorder associated either directly with the drinks promotion or through its contribution to increasing the overall levels of alcohol consumption by a fixed number of people entering a defined area - the Town Centre late night venues.

In particular - the applicant seeks to achieve two outcomes with its proposed conditions:

To reduce the rate of alcohol consumption during irresponsible drinks promotions;
To increase the protective services available, both through licensed door supervisors and police resource.

The applicant recognizes that the proposals have cost implications for premises licence holders, which may have a distorting effect on the operation of the market place for Town Centre late night venues. It is therefore proposing that identical conditions be applied to those premises to prevent market distortion and one premises potentially gaining a cost advantage over another.

The applicant considers that premises licence holders need to have additional cost, operational and logistical factors to consider prior to embarking on an irresponsible drinks promotion. At present, a licence holder has no disincentive, other than reputational, not to engage in irresponsible drinks promotion. Often these decisions are driven out of necessity for survival as one of the competitor locations operates a promotion. Very quickly, therefore, a situation can arise where drinks discounting or promotions spiral downwards creating a self-fulfilling cycle of events. The applicant will present evidence of this happening during the later part of December 2008 and early January 2009.

The applicant, in partnership with Greater Manchester Police and other local public bodies, will also present evidence of the direct and cumulative impact these promotions had on the levels of public nuisance, crime and disorder and the effects on public safety during this period.

The applicant has taken into account a broad range of published material on reaching a set of proposals to tackle this problem. These include:

The Secretary of State's Guidance under s.182 of the Licensing Act 2003;
Good Practice in Managing the Evening and Late Night Ecomony - Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (October 2004)
A Practical Guide for Dealing with Alcohol Related Problems - Home Office (February 2008)
Point of Sale Promotions - British Beer and Pub Association (May 2005)
British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing - Advertising Standards Authority (March 2003)
Code of Practice on the Naming, Packaging and Merchandising of Alcoholic Drinks - Portman Group (September 2002)
Drinks Industry - Social Responsibility Code (withdrawn in December 2008)

The applicant is particularly concerned with drinks promotions that occur when there are the most people within the Town Centre late night drinking venues. The applicant accepts that, at quieter times - particularly where the cumulative impact is lower - drinks promotions may be more extensive, although they should still be responsible. The applicant is therefore only proposing that the additional conditions apply to promotions between 21:00 hrs and 05:00 hrs. This would not, for instance, affect a `happy hour' promotion between (say) 7pm and 9pm.

The applicant considers the following examples to be irresponsible drinks promotions. In reaching this conclusion, the applicant has taken into account the industry's own guidance on what is and is not a responsible drinks promotion.

Heavy discounting of alcoholic drinks - the applicant considers that a floor price of 75p per unit of alcoholic content at an on-licensed venue is appropriate. This would mean that if one pint of alcohol was 2.5 units in strength, its floor price would be £1.88. The applicant considers that this is still a low price for alcoholic drinks at a late night drinking venue. In accordance, with industry guidance, the applicant would consider that an alcoholic drink is one that exceeds 1.2% by volume.
Fixed fee or entry promotions - the applicant considers that fixed fee or entry promotions are irresponsible as they encourage people to drink more alcohol to `get their money's worth' from the promotion. Examples of this include payment of a door entry of (say) £8 and then free drinks all night or perhaps for a fixed period of time.
Buy one get one free offers - the applicant considers that, late at night particularly, these type of offers are irresponsible.
The use of tickets and vouchers within late night drinks establishments diminishes the value of the transaction for the consumer and, therefore, may lead to excessive drinking. The applicant also recognizes that the use of vouchers may be attempted as a means of evading the controls the conditions seek to impose;
Whilst discount vouchers, such as those attached to flyers, are a legitimate marketing tool, the applicant considers that excessive discounting (such as `half price drinks') would be irresponsible - particularly late at night.

The applicant accepts that none of the above practices are unlawful, but the applicant contends that they are irresponsible in the specific circumstances of alcohol supply at late night Town Centre venues.

If such promotions are to run, the applicant seeks conditions on the licence to slow down the rate of drinking. Depending upon the type of promotion being run, this may have the effect of reducing the cost of the promotion to the licence holder. The applicant seeks to achieve this by restricting access to the bar area(s) within the premises. The licence holder would be required to operate a `post office' style queuing system for the bar, ensuring that no one was drinking whilst in the queue and that the numbers of purchases were restricted. This will have the effect of significantly slowing alcohol consumption.

In addition, the licence holder would need to employ additional door supervision staff to ensure that proper order was kept, both at the bar queue and in the general environs of the premises. The applicant recognizes the limited powers that door supervisors have to deal with particularly unruly clients and is therefore requiring that two additional police officers be assigned to the bar or club for the duration of the promotion (i.e. when the business is open at the hours covered and the promotion is running). Arrangements will have to be made between the licence holder and Greater Manchester Police to facilitate this. GMP will charge the licence holder for this service at their standard published rate.

Circuit drinking (where each Town Centre reveler visits a series of bars during the evening) has a cumulative effect that all Town Centre bars and clubs need to take responsibility for. Those that engage in irresponsible drinks promotions are undermining the efforts to maintain order in the late night economy. These proposals are designed to alleviate the competitive pressures on bar owners and strike the right balance between regulation and the free market to ensure public safety.

As drinking gets later, the problems get worse and the resources required to deal with them increase. The police have a key role to play in ensuring public safety at these times, but primary responsibility has to lie with the premises licence holders to ensure that they have adequate resources to deal with problems in and around their bar. The applicant, therefore, proposes that all Town Centre bars and clubs have a minimum number of door supervisors and that this number be increased, proportionately, between the hours of 02:00hrs and 05:00 hrs, if the bar remains open during any or all of that time.

The applicant will submit specific evidence in support of its application for a review of the licences at the hearing. This evidence will include (not an exhaustive list):

Crime pattern analysis for the Town Centre at the different times;
Features of promotions adopted in December 2008 - January 2009 in Oldham;
Circuit Drinking Analysis;
Specific examples of crimes, instances of disorder, public nuisance and risks to public safety;