The industry braced itself for Alistair Darling's inaugural budget and not without reason. The eventual duty increases – 55p on a bottle of spirits and 14p on a bottle of wine – are considerable but how will they affect you?
From grape to glass - whether you're a merchant, retailer, producer or sommelier – we want to hear your thoughts.
I am annoyed at the industry chiefs for sticking their heads in the sand. While I feel that the reasons behind anti-social drinking and its effects stem from more than just our industry, I feel the industries efforts to do 'their bit' are paltry and not much more than lip service.
What we have now is a situation where demand is being stripped out at all levels of our market with none of the extra money from raised prices staying in the chain.
Anyone who has worked in the off-trade for any period of time, knows that the biggest problem w.r.t under age drinking and drink related social problems is at the entry level.
Could the industry not have instituted a minimum price per unit of alcohol therefore only stripping demand out of the bottom end of the market and crucially keeping that extra money from a price hike within the industry resulting in a larger cash margin for producer, wholesaler and retailer alike.
Is it still to late? I fear so.
Mike Keeling
22 Apr 2008 12:48:55
It appears to me that Mr Polley thinks all wine drinkers quaff Clos Vougeot and its like. Like so many others who drink wine, my price band is at the bottom end of the market place. The Chancellor has hit me with both an income tax increase due to my low-pay and supplemented that with a duty increase on my wine, and now Mr Polley would like to see me pay still more for my weekly bottle of wine. And, sadly, the point is still being missed: alcohol abuse is still not about price and pricing abusers out of the habbit, it is about education to enable people to drink responsibly, and that is in terms of physical and finacial health. Moreover, If Mr Polley wants to retain more of his turnover, he should try to develop better business skills rather than expect the likes of me to fill his coffers.
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