Bar-going Britons may soon be bidding goodbye to their country’s all-you-can-drink deals — as well as some of their more outlandish drinking games.
The government said on Tuesday it was banning irresponsible promotions and boozy contests such as the “dentist’s chair” — where alcohol is poured directly into customers’ mouths — in an effort to tackle Britain’s binge-drinking problem.
The government says the ban will limit binge-drinking, but health experts say the nation’s deepening alcohol problem would best be tackled by imposing higher minimum prices on Britain’s cheap booze.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The raft of new measures is “better than nothing,” said Carys Davis, spokeswoman for Britain’s Alcohol Concern charity. But she said the restrictions “seem tame” compared to what the government could do by ending pricing practices that result in alcohol selling for less than water.
“You’d be hard-pushed to find a health organization that doesn’t support minimum pricing,” she said.
Britain’s alcohol consumption has risen by 40 percent over the past four decades, although per-capita drinking is still lower than in many other European countries.
Experts, however, say that Britons’ binge-drinking ways are putting their health at risk.
A parliamentary report published last month warned that 3 million Britons were addicted to alcohol.
A government-commissioned poll released on Tuesday suggested that one out of four Britons avoided some neighborhoods due to disorder relating to alcohol.
Government statistics suggest the country’s alcohol-related death rate has doubled since 1991.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson told BBC radio on Tuesday that he would outlaw some of the more excessive promotions — including games in which customers are encouraged to drink against a time limit, free drink deals for groups such as women or people under 25, half-price deals based on sports games, and prize giveaways for downing a set amount of booze in a 24-hour period.
All-you-can-drink deals would also be outlawed.
The new rules apply to England and Wales. Officials in Scotland have already gone further, with authorities announcing plans to introduce a minimum price.
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