Fury of 50p-a-drink promo for Dunfermline clubbers
Matt Meade • Published 27 Jan 2012 09:00
9 Comments
ALCOHOL priced just 50p at a Dunfermline club has been branded "an absolute disgrace".
The 'I love 50p shots and bombs' promotion at Life, in the town's Kirkgate, means clubbers can buy high alcohol-content drinks such as Tequila, Sambuca and Aftershock for less than the price of a bar of chocolate.
Other clubs in Dunfermline have similar promotions where booze - including pints of lager and vodka and mixer - can be bought for just £1.
Now councillor Gerry McMullan has called for the clubs to bring the cheap offers to an end.
He said, "50p for a shot is absolutely beyond belief.
"These clubs and the manufacturers are being allowed to give away alcohol for next to nothing.
"It's about capturing youngsters into a regime of alcohol dependency.
"In Dunfermline there are serious issues on drugs and alcohol yet these clubs are allowed to advertise promotions like this.
"It's unbelievably bad to our communities and society in general."
Life offers the promotion from Thursday to Saturday and charge no entry fee to the club.
Their Facebook page had the drinks promo poster as its profile picture last week. There are 13 different shots and bombs in the promotion.
At Harlem, an 'I love £1 drinks' promo poster is also used as their Facebook profile picture.
Their deal includes Southern Comfort and Coke, Fosters pints and VK Blue.
At the Ballroom (Velocity) there is also a 99p drinks promotion.
Councillor McMullan, a former board member of Fife Licensing Authority, added, "What quality of life are residents in the immediate area going to have when there's youngsters coming out fuelled by 50 pence shots?
"It will definitely put a strain on the police force at certain times.
"It's appalling and shows a complete lack of care for the youngsters here in West Fife, which is a reflection on Scotland in general."
Paul Smith, managing director for Castle Leisure Group who operate Harlem on Bruce Street, said he agreed with Councillor McMullan.
"No operator wants to sell alcohol at this price because, overall, no operator will make a profit," he told the Press.
"But we are living in very difficult financial times and when one operator starts to run a promotion such as this the others are left with little choice but to follow suit, otherwise they risk losing their market share to the other clubs.
"The Castle Leisure Group are one of the biggest proponents on minimum pricing - we led the way with minimum pricing.
"That's just one mechanism that will serve to control the market.
"But until such times as there is a base minimum price these types of promotions are perfectly legal within the 2005 (Licensing Scotland) Act."
He added, "The clubs cannot continue to run these type of promotions but they are just responding to keep their market share.
"It's a disgrace we have to.
"Responsible operators are being forced into this - they don't want to do it but have to or they run the risk of disappearing."
Buy this week's Press for the in-depth report as each club responds to the controversy.
Have your say. Post a comment on this article.
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Analsmith
16 posts
Jan 27, 09:28
Report comment -
matthew12456
1 post
Jan 27, 13:14
Report commentaw shut up surely pollution is a bigger deal?
Recommend?
Yes 17
No 9
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supersonic
49 posts
Jan 27, 13:34
Report commentPolluting your body mate! You'll know all about if you have a stroke with the binge drinking, happened to a friend of mine!
Recommend? Yes 13
No 15
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cookie13
1 post
Jan 27, 16:15
Report commentThese clubs still make a significant profit from 50p/£1 promotions, if they put their prices up like the councillor wants, they make bigger profits, hard up punter loses out??????????? The correct governing of how much people drink is the answer not the price.
Recommend? Yes 19
No 5
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bicyclebob
136 posts
Jan 28, 12:07
Report commentgonna take the toon further inta a bigger quagmire
Recommend? Yes 12
No 5
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******
Feb 1, 22:20
Report commentThis comment has been removed by a moderator
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fifelass
1 post
Feb 2, 18:50
Report commenttoot toot get the 50p shots oot!! young people are always attracted to lower drink prices and its there own choice wether to have 1 shot or 20 shots they can deal with the aftermath later. if uz are busy complaining about it then we wont be seeing you's up the town then??? naww
Recommend? Yes 4
No 1
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cheepcheep
13 posts
Feb 2, 19:36
Report commentThis is nothing new, the same club (different name) was doing this when i used to go clubbing, if they didn't do cheap drink then i would never have been able to afford a night out back then. I am a sensible drinker, hardly ever touch the stuff and never get that drunk that i don't know what i'm doing. People need to take responsibility for themselves and stop blaming others for their actions, moderation is fine, binge drinking is stupidity! but each to their own
Recommend? Yes 8
No 0
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snowshovel
3 posts
Feb 4, 00:38
Report commentWhatever happened to the days when barstaff refused alcohol to the "legless", these days they seem to sell them the drink regardless of whether they can lift the glass or not.
Recommend? Yes 3
No 0
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TheDEXExpress
33 posts
Feb 6, 23:57
Report commentOne pub measure of spirits equals one unit. The Scottish Government's preferred minimum unit price now seems to be 50p, although Dr Peter Rice, who seems to be one of the spokespersons for the medical profession in Scotland, recently proposed 60p per unit (as well as advocating a state-owned alcohol retail monopoly while he was at it). Given that this operator is selling shots at 50p per unit, minimum pricing would have no impact whatsoever here, contrary to what the Scottish Government's press officer said to the Press in unthinkingly trotting out their standard line.
In the hard copy of the paper, it was interesting to read another local operator saying that they now run promotions for 72 hours, because the new licensing laws require that. The law was presumably drafted in the hope that promotions would not be economically viable if they had to be run for three days. Instead, the politicians are now discovering that when they interfere with the market, unintended consequences result. This is not the first cack-handed recent government intervention in this field. Historic Scotland, a government agency, has cut back significantly the number of its properties that sell whisky to tourists on the grounds that complying with the new licensing laws is too expensive. It is not clear how this does anything to tackle alcohol abuse. You couldn't make it up.
Minimum pricing will only lead to similar side effects and is not going to tackle the fundamental issue, particularly given the minimal impact it is predicted to have on overall levels of alcohol consumption, let alone harm caused by alcohol abuse. It might make life easier for businesses such as Castle Leisure, which is why they favour it, but that is not a justification for legislating to fix pricing.
As snowshovel says, there is already a law against licensed premises serving people who are drunk. One constructive thing that Fife Constabulary and Fife Council could do would be to carry out regular blitzes of licensed premises and prosecute those who are breaking the law. People would soon get the message and behaviour would change.
Recommend? Yes 9
No 0
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