Publicans say minimum pricing will not work

Home Affairs president Mary Lowe suggested the ideas in the States this week, after the annual Law Enforcement report highlighted that more than a third of the incidents officers dealt with involved alcohol.

Fusion nightclub and Luna bar co-owner Alex Lock said he did not think the ideas would reduce anti-social behaviour.

‘In regards to reducing opening hours, it will not solve the issue,’ he said.

‘People will just go out earlier. I think they should extend the hours to stop binge drinking in Town. If they have longer to drink, then they are likely to drink the same amount, but over a longer period.’

He did not think putting up prices would stop people drinking.

‘If they want to drink, then they will drink,’ he said.

The Plough landlord Richard Skipper wanted more details about the ideas, but was not convinced by them so far.

‘Minimum pricing will not stop anti-social behaviour,’ he said. ‘It’s not that simple.’

He said the way Guernsey was laid out, with many establishments close together, led to problems.

He also noted that alcohol prices were already expensive in Guernsey, at £4 a pint, and he was worried that increasing prices would lead to more pubs closing.

Plough regulars Ted Wild, 68, and Steve Browning, 66, said pubs were important to the community, especially pensioners, and putting up prices would hit older, responsible drinkers hard.

‘I think it’s a terrible idea,’ Mr Wild said.

‘I don’t think it [anti-social behaviour] is any more of a problem than it has ever been.’

Cornerstone proprietor Bouwen Shaw said the States would do better to encourage people to organise how they got home at a certain time. That way if people had been drinking, they would go home, rather than stay in Town and cause trouble.

‘Minimum pricing will not do anything,’ he said. ‘There is a different culture now. People used to have a couple of drinks and then come out. But now people drink a lot more before they come out.’

Cock & Bull licensee Stephen Taylor also rejected the ideas, stating that it would be better to encourage pubs to be responsible about their customers, rather than increase prices.

‘We’ve been here 22 years and we have had only five or six incidents,’ he said.

He said that when the licences were changed in the early 2000s, establishments were warned they should not run drinks promotions as it would encourage drunkenness.

But that threat had never been enforced and now a number of pubs have happy hours and some even take part in promotions offering ‘courses’ of drinks.

‘They should change the law to deal with bad publicans,’ he said.