Minimum alcohol pricing approved

You've added part of your post in the middle of mine.

I've never seen any supermarket selling 3l bottles of Frosty Jack's.

They has been calls to ban drinks like Frosty Jack's long before Scotland went for minimum pricing. Nobody is buying it for the enjoyment of taste or drinking. It is just to get smashed.

The supermarkets have been changing in the way I think drinking habits are going. The aisles of crates of beer have been significantly reduced and far more shelf space to premium products. My local supermarket must have at least 30 gins and now a massive space given to craft beer. A lot of it is local beer too.

Pubs and supermarkets are moving towards quality over quantity.

What cheap alcohol out there has been hit hard with minimum pricing that you buy?

Increasing the price of cigarettes has stopped people smoking.

Even things like increasing the VED charge on high emission cars stops people buying certain cars for a trivial amount of money per year.

Charging 5p drastically reduced shopping bag usage.

Once alcohol is priced similarly to other countries I think the consumption decrease will accelerate.

At best it'll reduce alcohol related issues. If it doesn't at least it'll generate more money to pay people a working wage and money towards the costs of dealing with alcohol related issues.

 

I didn't, I posted responses to your individual points. It was very much deliberate.

 

Well obviously it hasn't. I assume you mean it has decreased the number of smokers,however even then it isn't as simple as saying "the price of cigarettes as stopped people smoking". It is not just down to price it is due to all sorts of things like education, advertising etc

 

Correct. It is also fair to see that there are very few positives to smoking, there are a lot of positives to responsible social drinking.

 

Not to mention the indoor smoking ban. Before it was seen as a social thing to light up a * and talk away in pubs, when they made them traipse outside to smoking shelters in the * rain on their own it will have put plenty people off.

 

Minimum pricing was not brought in as a cure all, it is part of an overall alcohol reduction policy and is merely a single plank in that platform which has not been ignored since the minimum pricing aspect was introduced. Literally, hundreds of people are working every day to implement alcohol harm reduction policies throughout Scotland. Minimum pricing is only one aspect of the overall policy.

 

I didn't notice. I had poor connection and it didn't load up like that. Odd. Sorry.

On control over the sale of drink, it has had little control anywhere ever. Hence why fines are in place to anyone involved with selling drink to kids. The supermarkets are probably the best as they are always asking people for I.D.

The wee note from your mum stopped working at corner shops a long time ago.

I'm not sure the control of alcohol from pubs and clubs is any better. It's a common sight to see people who've vastly overdone it. It also seems to be the cheaper the drink the more issues.

When has food never been a large part of a local pub?

Young people have been priced out of alcohol? You live in a different world than me. Remember that their consumption hasn't just decreased in pubs, it's across the board with many now teetotal through choice. Don't think for one second they couldn't prioritise their life to drinking if they chose.

Have a look around you, how many young people afford fancy cars, designer clothes, have all the latest gadgets and afford extravagant holidays etc. They also have no issue spending £60 a concert ticket on a whim.

Although the prices of drink is more expensive than 25 years ago, I bet if you factor in wages and inflation the real price would probably be similar if not less.

Drinking habits have been changing for a long time. Nightclubs and old fashioned pubs have been gradually phased out through choice for ages. Nightclubs were dying when I was young.

It isn't the pub that has become antisocial. It's life. Most folk don't know their neighbours and communicate over social media. It isn't the lack of a local pub that has changed modern life.

Most of the pubs I see closing have closed as they are outdated and stuck in the past. Hang on to how things were 20 years ago and you are irrelevant to too much of the potential customer base.

CAMRA is dying a death too. Even 72% of their members recognised they were outdated and voted for change. They still lost the vote!

There is still plenty of nightlife out on towns. It will never die, but has changed over the years.

The blame game doesn't work for all failing businesses. If other people have all the custom, and you don't, then you are more than likely doing something wrong.

 

No worries, it just makes it easier to address the points in order. Have done it again here.

 

I guess you're a bit older than me? Edit I see where you got that info. It's not first-hand experience.

My local was £1.79 25 years ago for a pint of lager. Using the inflation calculator £1.79 25 years ago is now £3.59.

That's the same as the average just now and my hometown is a cheap place and not influenced by city centre prices.


The quality of life has vastly increased over the years. People demand a higher quality of food and drink. It's not the fact these places have turned into Gastopubs, it's just the standard of food that people expect now.

There is no need to eat crap food and review sites have made businesses sharpen up their quality and service. People are happy to pay a bit more for extra quality.

Times have changed for everything. You can no longer buy as Ford Mondeo a nobody was buying them. It isn't because people can't afford one. Mr Average Family man now buys a BMW 3/4 series or Audi A4/5 rather than a Ford.

There is more concerts than ever. There is also far more large gigs. It used to be that only select gigs sold out and you were lucky to recover face value if you had spares. Now loads of gigs sell out and there is a huge market for making profit off tickets.

As for drinking habits 25 years ago people hated paying for tea and coffee. We did only have tea or coffee back then before coffee became all fashionable.

Wind forward to now and there is packed coffee shops everywhere. People don't appear to have much issues paying £3 for a coffee, tea or hot chocolate and happy to add overpriced sandwiches and cakes into the equation too.

The old pub is dead. The world has moved on.

 

Loves an essay in this thread.

 

The world has obviously moved on. However that doesn't mean for the better ( that is entirely subjective). Is it a better world because folk will pay £? for a cup of tea or coffee ? In terms of pubs and "paying that bit extra" for better quality. Is your average pint of Guinness, cider or lager of better quality than previously? From personal experience I would say no.

 

It is £5 in my local now here for the house lager.It isn't cheap in this town. There's a few in there remember paying normal prices.
The one next to my work is a pound cheaper and six miles further out. Thank * I don't drink lager! I got my information from trade magazines I still have knocking about on the bookshelf.

I am not sure why you are talking about eating crap food. My local serves amazing food and is a community pub, not a gastropub. There is a difference between good food and pubs being food led and trying to be gastropubs. In my experience, professionally and as a customer, the ones that try to be all * make * food. Understatement is key and the personal touch still worth more.

I don't even drive, but you definitely live in a different world to me. My girlfriend drives a 15 year old banger. We both work and couldn't afford any better, if we would kids we would have to downgrade.

There are far more gigs because there are less record sales. My CD collection is still in mother's loft and there is hundreds and hundreds of them. I haven't bought an album in years, possibly even this century. I go to to a lot of gigs. It is very easy to get cheap tickets. I went to see two bands I liked on Saturday and a day festival on Sunday. I paid around 25 quid. Go on Twickets now and there will be loads more.

You might be right that the world has moved on, but we don't know our neighbours anymore. Community and society is dying and that is why I champion the pub still. You get to know people who live in the same area as you, you don't get that in * coffee shops. Not everything now is better just because it is more expensive. People didn't have 15k of credit card debt or mortgages beyond their means either. I am not pushing nostalgia for nostalgia's sake, we have made huge progress as a species on one hand, but we have also regressed in many ways. Rampant consumer capitalism is pushing people to breaking point, but if you live in a world where the average family man is buying a BMW then it is probably harder to see.

 

The choice is definitely better. As someone who likes variety in his beer drinking habits that is an improvement.

 

Absolutely. My issue was more with the "world has moved on" soundbyte and implication that is always a positive. A lot of people will want more variety, however a lot of people will want to continue to drink their favourite drink without a decline in the quality because a lot of folk that work in pubs now can't pour a pint.

 

And I agree with that.I certainly think it isn't always for the better, usually for the dearer and it is often on the never never.

 

The standard of living is vastly higher than 25 years ago. Go on to YouTube and search for videos from your area from 25 years ago. I bet you'll be surprised how * things really were.

Everyone wants to be paid well, but they want to pay peanuts for everyone else. The equation doesn't work.

25 years ago I drank whatever was cheapest in the pub. I remember buying 24 packs of Miller for £25 from the supermarket. It was quality over quality.

These days I want a good drink. I'm happy paying extra for a quality craft beer and I'm even happier in the knowledge that the staff are paid the living wage and not the bare minimum.

I don't remember the last time I visited the supermarket and bought a crate of beer other than for parties here for other people.

I thought you were in Ireland before talking about the £. They are a good bit more experience than us for drink.

The BMW 3 series is one of the best selling cars in the UK. 10 of the top 20 best selling cars in the UK are "premium" German cars.

I agree with the debt bit. People are now comfortable having everything on finance.

 

I am intrigued as to how videos on YouTube can show me a standard of living, unless you are incredibly shallow?

 

Am I missing the point here? Kinda feels like I must be.

Anyone who thinks Scotland is full of young people who buy BMWs, designer clothes, extravagant holidays, frequent £60 gigs and drink for the taste and enjoyment needs to have a quick drive through working class areas in Glasgow.

Plus how would a minimum price affect someone who can afford all of the above?

I'm not saying folk don't like the taste of alcohol but as St mentioned it's generally good old staples like Guinness and Cider. Also lager but price plays a huge part in deciding what folk will be drinking. Women like to drink wine but pubs don't stock £60 bottles of wine cause who is going to pay £20 a glass?

All sounds very middle class and something Boris Johnson will probably say when he comes up here to tell us why we're better off in the union but better off out the Union.

Not a dig at you onefootwonder, just can't see what you're seeing when you look out your window.