Alcopops: Surrounded by controversy

Blow to Alcopops

Campaigners against under-age drinking have welcomed the decision of a national chain of pub to ban the sale of the drinks known as alcopops in all its bars.

J D Wetherspoon, which has 194 pubs, said it did not want to be associated with the bad publicity surrounding the drink, which now accounts for 5% of all alcohol sales.

Wetherspoon's, a fast-expanding independent company which aims to have 500 pubs open throughout Britain by the year 2001, banned the sale of alcopops in one of its London pubs in a month-long experiment..

There was no obvious impact on sales, so the company decided to stop selling the drink in all its bars.

Alcohol Concern welcomed the decision and called on other pub chains to ban the sale of alcopops.

"We hope it encourages other licensees to take a similar look at the image of alcopops and the problems of under 18-year-olds attempting to buy the drinks," said a spokesman. "We would obviously like other pub chains to follow suit but we also need a code of practice which is effective and does not leave the onus on licensees to take unilateral decisions."

The Government launched a crackdown on under-age drinking and sales of alcopops last month. A package of measures was unveiled making it illegal for adults to buy alcohol on behalf of youngsters and signalling the use of teenagers to flush out retailers who break the law.

Ministers said they wanted to see more rigorous use of proof-of-age cards and pledged to push through new powers for the police to confiscate alcohol from youngsters caught drinking in public.

The drinks industry watchdog, the Portman Group, said the pub chain's decision was unlikely to have much of an impact on under-age alcohol misuse.

"More important than the issue of which drinks are stocked in a pub is the responsibility licensees have in not selling alcohol to under 18-year-olds," said a spokesman. "Just banning alcopops will not necessarily prevent young people obtaining alcohol from pubs."

So-called alcopops, potent fruit-flavoured alcoholic drinks, are thought to appeal to children's tastes, thereby encouraging under-age drinking. They have already been taken off the shelves of some supermarkets, such as Iceland and the Co-op.

Alcopops appear to be declining in popularity in any case. According to the industry's quarterly monitor, sales this year are around 30 per cent below last year's, partly because of the controversy around the drinks, but also because of a fall from fashion.

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