Health Advisor Proposes Supermarket Booze Ban

by jordan | February 20, 2008 at 01:40 pm | 255 views | 1 comment

slideshow view all 2

A plan is afoot to ban alcohol sales from UK supermarkets in an effort to curb binge drinking.

Professor Julian le Grand, the chairman of Health England, said customers should be made to make a conscious decision to buy drink by going into a different shop instead of being "lured" into buying alcohol during their weekly grocery shop.

He said alcohol had become "like adult candy", with customers seduced into buying cut-price drink on their way around the supermarket in the same way that sweets used to be placed near tills.

Having lived in coutnries where booze can be procured in supermarkets (USA, UK) and where it cannot (Canada), I can't see how this will really make a difference. The queues at the LCBO or BC Liquor Store are pretty long on a Friday evening.

As for price, the increase would have to be rather dramatic to affect consumer behavior.
(A ban on booze sales at petrol/gas stations makes sense, though, if you think about it)