I am now officially enraged
Not content with piling greater and greater tax on my pint, my local pub has now been told their quiz machine requires a gambling license.
And all this in the name of curbing 'binge drinking'. Well guess what, at £3.50 a pint, I cannot afford to binge drink. And thanks to the hours I work, including commuting time, midweek drinking is far from advisable.
It's time for me to write to my MP with a whinge, and a suggestion. Your average pub is categorically NOT part of the problem. Indeed, it is in their interest to not serve those who have had a skinful. It pisses off their other drinkers, and if sustained, drives us away. Plus, of caught they can be fined and stripped of their license.
Yet the measures being taken hit these businesses hardest. When I started drinking in the pub in question, a pint of ale was £2.50. That was 5 years ago. When I started drinking 14 years ago, a pint was around £1.80. And guess what! Binge drinking hasn't been affected.
Small pubs are clearly not part of the problem. So why not offer them a tax break? A responsive publican is a godsend. Give them a way to compete. Tax late licensed premises heavily. Make the ones creating the problem pay for the clean up!
As I said, I'm writing to my MP, and if you feel the same, I ask you to do the same.