BBPA blasts mandatory code plans

Published: 28 July, 2009

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has launched a last-ditch broadside against government plans for a mandatory code of practice on alcohol sales branding them "ill conceived", "untargeted" and likely to cost the embattled industry £58m.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has launched a last ditch broadside against government plans for a mandatory code of practice on alcohol sales branding them "ill conceived", "untargeted" and likely to cost the embattled industry £58m.

The Home Office is currently approaching the completion of a round of UK-wide consultation on the code and the BBPA has claimed that the plans have met with blanket opposition.

Marting Rawlings, the BBPA's director of pub and leisure, said the code would be a "body blow" to pubs already struggling to cope with a recession.

"Despite attendance being dominated by police and council officials, electronic voting at the meetings has seen near total opposition to the measure. In Birmingham, 93% were opposed or strongly opposed. At the Nottingham meeting, the figure was 80% and in Cambridge 77%," Rawlings said.

The latest attack by the BBPA is the strongest to date.

The mandatory code - en route through Parliament as part of the Policing and Crime Bill - will mean a crackdown on irresponsible promotions and a raft of new laws affecting pubs.

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