UK: Latest Home Office figures show that a third of pubs failed test-purchase stings over the summer

According to figures in M&C Report, the test-purchase sting operation, which was carried out over six weeks to mid-June, 2006, showed that 29% of licensed venues visited during sting operations served alcohol to underage customers, The Morning Advertiser posted October 10.

Pubs and bars owned by a mix of managed groups and leased pub companies were visited during the tests, including sites owned by Barracuda Group, Enterprise Inns, Greene King, Mitchells & Butlers, Punch Taverns, Regent Inns, Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises (SNPE) and Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries (WDB).

The figures are to be discussed this week at a Home Office meeting between government officials and industry leaders.

The summit, on October 11, will be hosted by Shaun Woodward, the licensing minister, and Vernon Coaker, under-secretary of state at the Home Office for policing, security and community safety.

In total over 6,700 venues were visited during the operation.

Figures obtained by M&C Report showed that SNPE was the worst offender, failing over 40% of purchases, followed by Enterprise, Greene King and WDB, which were all over 30%.

Barracuda was the “least-worst” offender, failing just over 10% of test purchases, although sources suggest that one unnamed managed pub operator achieved a perfect score.

One source close to the situation said: “The leased operators came off worse. This is because it is much easier to get a manager to comply with strict company procedure than it is a licensee.

“But this is something that the industry is taking very seriously.”

The breakdown of market segments showed that restaurants were the worst performers, failing 32%, with pubs failing 31%, bars failing 30% and clubs failing 12%.

The test purchases were the fourth such operation under the Home Office's Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaign (AMEC), which was first launched in 2004.

The first three AMECs registered 45% failures, 32% failures and 29% failures respectively.

While industry sources admitted that the failure rates must be addressed, some also pointed out that if a venue was visited 10 times in one evening and it managed to vet an underage purchaser nine times, but failed on the tenth, it still counted as a failure.

Therefore the actual ratio of attempts to failures is much lower.

11 October, 2006