I was in Sainsbury's yesterday... (The Great Alcohol Question)

I was in Sainsbury's yesterday evening to pick up the odd bit of shopping and to check what was left on the 'short date' shelf, as I do.
After collecting potatoes I passed the cheeses and turned left into the spirits aisle to pick up a bottle of vodka. Clustered round the vodka shelves was a small group of lads in their late teens and early twenties deciding what to get - "we'll get this one 'cause its only about 3 quid each" I overheard. That's a Sainsbury's litre of vodka at about £12 a time.
Some 15 minutes later I spotted the lads sat around on a makeshift bench, near the exit to the Green Park Station part of the Sainsbury's site in Bath. Between them on the bench were 4 paper cups, a 2 litre bottle of a famous brand of cola and the aforementioned vodka.
This activity seemed so well organised that I can only assume that it's a regular occurrence.
"We'll go to town for a night out, but on the way we'll pick up a bottle and get half pissed on the cheap, before finishing the night hammered in a pub or club"
We are currently being bombarded by talk of initiatives to curb our 'binge drinking culture'. The government, medical officers and advisers are issuing statements and reports left right and centre asking for increased controls on the 'on-trade' such as pubs and clubs and yet these are the very places where alcohol can be consumed in a safe and controlled fashion.
Somehow we have ended up with more alcohol being consumed on the way to the pub than in the pub. Go figure.
One of the core issues here is price - as always when the consumer is being considered. Either alcohol is too expensive in pubs and clubs, or it's too cheap in supermarkets. At the moment the pubs are caught between a rock and a hard place. Most of the tenanted and leased pubs in this country are paying high rents and are being charged higher than free market prices for stock. Pubs are completely unable to compete with vodka at £12 per litre plus cola at 60p per litre. A large (50ml) vodka and cola in a pub will cost £3.50 or more and only 70p from a supermarket.
The companies that own the pubs that the tenants and lessees rent have massive debts running into many billions of pounds which they used to buy their great estates in the first place. In order to service this debt in a shrinking market they are overloading the rents on the properties. In addition with tied supplies the property owners can negotiate large discounts with the brewers and continue to charge their tenants the full price (or more) while pocketing the difference to further support their debt repayments.
The end result is, that this country is not only losing a valuable community resource - pubs - closing at the rate of 6 per day but the drinking masses are getting hammered at home on cheap and relatively unregulated drink.
I can truly see a time when there will be so few pubs in some areas that for any sort of social drinking life will be had by popping down to the the back door of the local shebeen, knocking and asking for Fred. Heavy drinkers will be going blind on the poorly distilled alcohol and criminals and terrorists will be providing the product and the security.
I do hope I'm wrong.

The Mark of Friendship, Millbrook

The Daily(ish) Millbrook: "'Arking Back"
Congratulations and a warm welcome to the new lessees of The Mark of Friendship in Millbrook.
I had seen the ad in The Morning Advertiser and wondered who would be brave enough in these straitened times to take it on, and I'm still wondering how a place as small as Millbrook is able to support one local hostelry let alone 3.

Things being what they are with Punch et.al. these days, I hope Dick and Megan managed to squeeze a really good deal out of their BDM on the rent and tied supplies to get them a good start.

That said I am very much looking forward to enjoying the fruits of their cellar and wish them the very best of luck with this venture.(Picture courtesy of The Morning Advertiser/Punch Taverns)

Steeleye Span - St Georges Bristol

Steeleye Span at St Georges Bristol
Prompted by The Millbrooker's reminder about The Gigspanner gig at Kingsand, I went for a Google and found that Steeleye Span are indeed touring their music as the 40th Anniversary Tour, complete with Maddy Prior on vocals. Woo-hoo. Now I'll have to check my bank balance, train times, bus times and which planet I'm on, but I'd love to go.

Here's a question...

Has anyone worked for a company who, when you hand in your resignation withholds your last months salary and pays it late - 'to ensure that there is no overpayment'?

Why don't they just get it right? Oops! Sorry - the entire pub industry is run by underpaid and over worked administrators, managed by incompetent bean counters who have only one priority - the great god 'Shareholder Value'.

I would be delighted to open a list of companies that do this.

1. Spirit Group
2. .....

I look forward to adding to this list.

You might think it could be condemed

'Fundamentally flawed, almost certainly illegal': Gov't databases - Software - Breaking Business and Technology News at silicon.com

I have to say it's good to see that someone is still allowed to question the government on its ubiquity.

Hooray?

'I will regulate pubs, but I don't visit them' - General news - Politics - Morning Advertiser

'I will regulate pubs, but I don't visit them' - General news - Politics - Morning Advertiser: "Alan Campbell"

Can you imagine our government being any more ridiculous. It must be time for them to leave. Perhaps a large bell and a call of 'Time Please Gentlemen and Ladies' should be rung at great volume from the visitors gallery of the House of Commons.

For Alan Campbell and whoever appointed him this clearly demonstrates the crass stupidity of this administration.

As I have said in a previous blog which I can't be bothered to look up (you can if you want): The only effective way to control the damage people are doing with excessive alcohol consumption is to restrict access to the only controlled drinking environment - the pub. If you force pubs out of business and allow the whole sale price slashing of other suppliers then the consumer will get just as drunk at home or in shebeens that will spring up where there were once local pubs.

Will someone please call a halt to this stupidity!!!

Join the Facebook Cause 'Save the Great British Pub' and have a look at the Campaign for a Fair Pint too.

What a Surprise

Well, after a break of over six months due to nothing more than total apathy I was amazed to find that this Blog had received 39 page hits last week. On closer investigation - I went to the counter site (sitemeter) and found that the new series of Shameless which I managed to miss last night had yet again attracted attention. The page in question is buried deep in the archive pages from last April (http://bathnstuff.blogspot.com/2008/04/shameless-introduction.html). David Threlfall stars as Frank the head of the dysfunctional family of Gallaghers living on the Chatsworth Estate. Amazing show - please everyone watch and enjoy.
Now I should appear further up The Millbrookers Links list.