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Publicans and off-license owners are being invited to share their views on a new mandatory code of conduct for alcohol retailers which will ban irresponsible promotions like 'all you can drink for £10' and 'dentist’s chairs' – pouring alcohol directly into people’s mouths.

Home Office Minister Alan Campbell wants licensees to take part in the consultation events which will take place across the country over the next six weeks. The next scheduled event takes place in Birmingham on July 21.

Feedback from the events will be used to help develop the mandatory code to ensure it tackles alcohol-related crime and disorder and harms to health by banning promotions which encourage excessive drinking without penalising the majority of responsible businesses.
Statement from the Home Office Minister

Alan Campbell said,'We are determined to tackle alcohol-related crime and disorder which costs the UK billions every year in police and hospital resources but we have always said that we do not want to penalise the majority of responsible businesses.

'This series of regional consultation events will help us ensure the proposed mandatory code achieves that goal through some full and frank discussions with those people who work in and deal with the alcohol trade and most importantly the general public.

'We have consulted with the alcohol industry at a national level about the code and we now want to hear from licensees at a local level so I would encourage them to register for these events.'
Events

Each event will include workshops for people who work in the alcohol trade particularly local licensees such as publicans and off license managers as well as health organisations, councils and police forces. They will be followed by focus groups for the public, made up of representative samples of local residents.

The proposed code for pubs, clubs, off-licences and supermarkets will take a two-tiered approach with a small number of mandatory conditions for all alcohol retailers. This will ensure consistent good practice alongside new discretionary powers for local authorities to tackle problem premises where irresponsible drinking could put individuals at risk and lead to crime and anti-social behaviour.

Any premises that breach the mandatory code or local discretionary conditions will face a range of possible sanctions including losing their licence, having additional tough conditions imposed on their licence or a maximum £20,000 fine and/or six months imprisonment.