Alcohol-fuelled unity
The four main parties jointly lobbied the DSD Minister not to liberalise Northern Ireland’s licensing laws, in particular allowing corner shops to sell alcohol.
Advertise
-
Books
-
What has The Third Man got to say about Northern Ireland?
Short answer: very little, other than he enjoyed the environs of Hillsborough Castle, enjoyed working with the local politicians, and has Gerry Adams to thank for Bobby his dog. Peter Mandelson’s book The Third Man has captured media headlines in recent weeks as the Times serialised the most juicy bits. But what did he have [...] read our review »
-
Hearing the Other Voice from the Grave: Why Should we Listen to David Ervine’s Stories?
Ed Moloney’s Voices from the Grave: Two Men’s War in Ireland has received considerable attention in the press and in the public realm since its publication earlier this year. Although the book relates the experiences of the Provisional IRA’s Brendan Hughes and the PUP/UVF’s David Ervine, much of the discussion has focused on Hughes’ stories [...] read our review » -
Learning from 1798?: Northern Ireland’s Upcoming Decade of Commemorations
Last year, the Lilliput Press released a new extended edition of Tom Dunne’s Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize winning book, Rebellions: Memoir, Memory and 1798. First published in 2004, Dunne’s book provoked considerable controversy with its critique of the ‘commemorationist’ history that Dunne believed dominated the 1998 commemorations of the 1798 Rebellion. The book blasted the involvement [...] read our review »
-
It’s hard to have much sympathy for the “Fat Cat Licencees” considering that they have artifically kept the prices at a premium level enabling them to continue to line their pockets. The price of a pint hovers around £2.65 mark (not even a city centre pub) which by any strectch of the imagination is a bit feckin steep. Whilst i have no evidence of it i feel that the prices have been set at a level that maintains a level of profit not seen over in “The Big Island” where many a pub in an attempt to keep and gain new custom keep the price of a pint down. The virtual monopoly that the licencee enjoy is to the detriment of our pockets and the benefit of theirs.
This is one of the worst examples of illiberal nanny-statism.
The oft-used quote by the anti-liberalisation lobby is that 863 (98%) were opposed to the abolition of the licence surrender principal which in effect caps the number of liquor licenses available here, while only 18 (2%) were in favour of it.
That is misleading- the only people who were likely to respond to the consultation in the first place were the ones who would lose the most- existing publicans. Most people were completely unaware of any consulation, and even if they were, were hardly likely to respond.
We are faced with the ridiculous situation whereby licences cost around £250,000 in Belfast city centre, not to mention the cost of actually opening and running a pub. This prices anyone but the rich and corporate chains out of the market.
For instance, in most areas of small business, people get experience then branch out on their own. This is practically impossible in the licensed trade- how can an experienced bar manager or hospitality graduate ever hope to have the money to open a simple pub?
The FRLT have been campaigning heavily, claiming liberalisation would be ‘bad for business.’ The only business it would be bad for is that operated by a small monopolistic group of existing pub owners whose licence values have been kept artifically high by an archaic and anachronistic system. Opening the system will not only benefit business in the wider sense, but will also benefit the consumer who is currently paying exorbitant prices for drink to carry the burden of high licence costs.
I can understand the DUP opposing the plans on the grounds of their Free Presbyterian rejection of all things alcoholic.
But for the nationalist parties to fall in behind the views of a small interest group such as the FRLT, I am surprised. They represent a small number of presumably wealthy pub and club owners, and clearly put a spin on the situation to benefit their cause (and legitimately so) but politicans should realise that simply because there isn’t a ‘Federation of the non-retail unlicensed trade’ AKA people who would like to own a pub or sell drink from their shop, doesn’t mean that support for the plans doesn’t exist. Not to mention the general public who are being dictated to like children.
Whether there is a drink problem or not, curtailing adults’ right to purchase alcohol and stifling organic business growth is not the way to address it. The focus should be on tackling those who abuse alcohol, not on those who want to pick up a six-pack from the shop round the corner as they could do in Britain.
Instead of taking the word of monied interest groups at face value, political parties ought to think about what the actual public wants, and come up with suitable plans to address that.
The FRLT are legitimately fighting their corner- politicians should be savvy enough to realise that this isn’t necessarily the corner of the voting adult public who perhaps don’t like having to pay ridiculous prices at impersonal superpubs.