ReZourceman Posted March 23, 2012 Posted March 23, 2012 People will just stop drinking and turn to cocaine.
The Bard Posted March 23, 2012 Posted March 23, 2012 That's pretty much what I did as a grubby grunion of a teen, when I couldn't pay for the alcohol I got stoned instead. I doubt the government wants to put us in a situation where illicit substances are easier to obtain and cheaper than legal ones. I've been cutting down on drinking anyway, so I'm ambivalent towards this.
Charlie Posted March 24, 2012 Posted March 24, 2012 I would just like to confirm that alcohol is in no way dead in Scotland, and in particular, Glasgow.
McPhee Posted March 24, 2012 Posted March 24, 2012 I'm glad they finally got around to doing this. The pub trade and small producers have been calling out for it; the increased duty has hit them hard while larger companies like Diageo and AB InBev have simply cut their margins, cut back on production costs and continued to sell their products cheaply. Likewise with the supermarkets, they've cut back the profit margin and focused on volume sales/drawing customers in to store with deals instead. The end result is the pub trade losing out, small producers losing out and the louts pre-loading at home, away from the supervision of barstaff and doormen. Only thing I will say is IMO 40p per unit isn't enough. It's already easy enough to get a 1ltr bottle of Vodka for £15 (37.5p per unit). All this move will do is force supermarkets to add an extra £1 to the bottle (rendering own/budget brand drinks pointless?). Not a lot really and I'm not sure it's enough to make the impact that's needed.
EEVILMURRAY Posted March 24, 2012 Posted March 24, 2012 Actually who cares about this, the price of a pack of smokes is going up by almost 40 pence! Bastards.... I know, it's amazing. I've not been into work since the Budget, but I'm interested in the new prices I'll see when I get there.
Rummy Posted March 24, 2012 Posted March 24, 2012 All I need are cigarettes and alcohol.... I likes my deals at the supermarket. 2 crates for 15 quid is always a bargain when you are hosting a gathering/party/bbq. Screw the Tories! But then, I don't live in a booze Britain type town. London is rather big you see and I don't see my little bit of it turn into a hell hole every Friday and Saturday night. Mind you, Dartford is quite close and is like that. If these new plans can stop twats acting like drunken twats then I'm all for it. But to be honest, twats will be twats. I'm slight interested in the rates of alcohol infused violence/hospital visits on days of the week that aren't Friday or Saturday, which are days I generally avoid going out due to the number of twats who will be twats being out. Having said that, it's actually been quite a while since I've witnessed some bad behavior from drinkers around town.
nightwolf Posted March 24, 2012 Posted March 24, 2012 I guess for the purpose of stopping clubbers getting too hammered and causing fights and accidents etc, it is a good thing. Hopefully they wont drink so much before hitting the town, or even not go out as much period because of the cost. Honestly in Sheffield, if clubs and bars aren't being taxed, then it won't change. For example, I'd buy say a litre of Vodka for a night out, I'd drink about 1/4 maybe 1/2 if I'm being stupid (or that one time I drank over 3/4..but let's not go into that.) Then I head to corporation, a rock type club in town, entry is like £3. quad vods (so four shots of vodka here) and iron bru is £2. See my point here? In Cambridge there's no way I could drink heavily without drinking first at home, don't get me wrong, it's right to discourage this, but I'd find a way around it and I'm sure others will too.
Charlie Posted March 24, 2012 Posted March 24, 2012 Then I head to corporation, a rock type club in town, entry is like £3. quad vods (so four shots of vodka here) and iron bru is £2. You're being ripped off, £2 for fake Irn Bru? But I get your point, half the time softies are the same price or more expensive than vodka. Weeknights you get quid drinks in Glasgow in all the main clubs. A shot up here is 25ml. You can easily go through 6 doubles in a night and that's on top of what you drink before hand. Weekend prices are different though, double that at least for a single so you're talking £4 for a double which is getting pricey, but, I still do it.
nightwolf Posted March 24, 2012 Posted March 24, 2012 You're being ripped off, £2 for fake Irn Bru? But I get your point, half the time softies are the same price or more expensive than vodka. Weeknights you get quid drinks in Glasgow in all the main clubs. A shot up here is 25ml. You can easily go through 6 doubles in a night and that's on top of what you drink before hand. Weekend prices are different though, double that at least for a single so you're talking £4 for a double which is getting pricey, but, I still do it. Haha, cheeky. Getting four shots of vodka with iron bru for £2 is insane, here it's unheard of (Cambridge) and most of the guys here still don't believe me. But if you're able to get that why would you drink before hand? (y'know like I did, because I'm stupid.)
EEVILMURRAY Posted March 24, 2012 Posted March 24, 2012 I know, it's amazing. I've not been into work since the Budget, but I'm interested in the new prices I'll see when I get there. Most annoyed. The prices haven't changed at all... Well, we've been slowly hiking the prices up since new year, maybe it's been leading up to this... Clever play Tesco.
McPhee Posted March 24, 2012 Posted March 24, 2012 (edited) Haha, cheeky. Getting four shots of vodka with iron bru for £2 is insane, here it's unheard of (Cambridge) and most of the guys here still don't believe me. But if you're able to get that why would you drink before hand? (y'know like I did, because I'm stupid.) Maybe licensing laws need changing, allowing councils to revoke licenses if they deem that alcohol is being sold irresponsibly (volume of measures/price). In my uni days I went to one pub opening that was doing Vodka at 40p/shot then increased by 10p a day until Saturday night (90p). Prices stayed at 90p/shot after that. At the time it wasn't as big a problem as it is now, students had very little disposable income and so prices needed to be cheap to draw people in. Problem is, most students have as much as a grand a month disposable income now (the rise of Jack Wills and Urban Outfitters being testament to this). Edited March 24, 2012 by McPhee
Charlie Posted March 24, 2012 Posted March 24, 2012 Haha, cheeky. Getting four shots of vodka with iron bru for £2 is insane, here it's unheard of (Cambridge) and most of the guys here still don't believe me. But if you're able to get that why would you drink before hand? (y'know like I did, because I'm stupid.) Yeah, people from Edinburgh find it amazing how we can get quid drinks in Glasgow. Then when I've been in London I've had people find it amazing that we can get pints for under £3. I've come to the conclusion that Glasgow is just awesome if you like drinking.
MoogleViper Posted March 24, 2012 Posted March 24, 2012 I've come to the conclusion that Glasgow is just awesome if you like drinking. But if you like anything else...
Paj! Posted March 24, 2012 Posted March 24, 2012 Yeah London prices make me cry/die. Wetherspoons is like the only place to find a pint under £3 / that I remember/can bear to go to.
nightwolf Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 Maybe licensing laws need changing, allowing councils to revoke licenses if they deem that alcohol is being sold irresponsibly (volume of measures/price). In my uni days I went to one pub opening that was doing Vodka at 40p/shot then increased by 10p a day until Saturday night (90p). Prices stayed at 90p/shot after that. At the time it wasn't as big a problem as it is now, students had very little disposable income and so prices needed to be cheap to draw people in. Problem is, most students have as much as a grand a month disposable income now (the rise of Jack Wills and Urban Outfitters being testament to this). This was pretty much my point. If you're going to try and make alcohol harder to buy in shops, why not bars/clubs.
Charlie Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 But if you like anything else... Actually I think you'll find Glasgow is one of the top 10 cities in the world to visit according to the Lonely Planet. It's got such a bad rep but the reality is there's a lot to do and you aren't going to get knifed out of the blue for no reason at all. To whoever said "most students have a grand disposable income a month". I really don't think that's true. Very few students I knew had anywhere close to that. The ones who did were all supported by parents or living on over drafts or credit cards. I think I had more money than most my friends due to having a well paid part time job and even then id 'only' have £400-500 max a month, usually less.
Jimbob Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 100% agree with all the nattering about club/bar prices. The government need to crack down on the stupid offers/ridiculously low prices of drinks readily available in these places. Don't they watch shows like Brit Cops??
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