Minimum Pricing will put people off the pub

New poll shows minimum pricing will undermine the great British pub

SABMiller has today released new poll results from YouGov which show that, contrary to the Government’s claims of a boost to the industry, a 45p minimum price for alcohol will turn people away from pubs.

YouGov polled 1261 people who had had an alcoholic drink in the last week1 to find out whether a minimum price would make them more or less likely to go to the pub. The results show that at a minimum price of 45p:

■Less than 1%(0.36)% say they will drink less at home and more in the pub

■39% will drink less in the pub

■45% will continue to drink the same as they did before, both at home and in the pub

■Pubs in some regions will be more affected than others, with 54% of people surveyed in the West Midlands saying they’ll drink less in the pub compared to 28% in Scotland

■People who are constantly struggling to keep up with their outgoings are the most likely to drink less in the pub (56%)

The report also shows that some people will cut back on other things in order to cover the increased cost of what they drink at home.

■16% of respondents said they would be very or fairly likely to cut back on other areas of spending; of those struggling or falling behind with their outgoings this rose to 24%

■17% of those who thought they would end up spending more on alcohol said they would cut down on leisure activities, for example going to the cinema, and 16% said they would cut back on clothing

■13% of those struggling or falling behind with payments said they would cut back on food, compared to 8% of the general population. 18% of 18-24-year-olds said this was also something that they would do.

Commenting, SABMiller’s Senior Vice President of Industry Affairs, Mike Short said:

“This shows that people don’t behave in the way computer models predict. If the Government really wants to cut anti-social binge drinking it needs to tackle that culture with better education for parents and in schools, targeted local schemes and proper enforcement of the existing licensing laws.”

Tim Martin, Wetherspoon’s Chairman, said:
“The fact that less than 1% of people said they would drink in the pub more often and less at home puts paid to the Government’s claim that minimum pricing will help the UK pub industry.”