Why no cafe bars?
January 28th, 2012 | by aobaoill |The Irish Times reports on a forthcoming government report on alcohol, and the numerous suggestions made in it, including more stringent rules around advertising (none on TV before 9pm, no outdoor advertising, no sports sponsorship), minimum price floors (and bans on discounts for bulk purchases) and more aggressive health monitoring.
I was disappointed though – if not surprised – not to see mention of cafe bars. The report claims that pubs “make a greater social and economic contribution, and exercise greater control on alcohol consumption” than do off-license premises, and also recommends increase in the number of Youth Cafes, and of their hours.
No mention, though, of the value in building out smaller pubs that might be required to make some part of their revenues from non-alcohol sales. That short-lived idea was successfully killed off by the the vintners some years ago, and their sign-off was sought for this report, so it’s not surprising, but it is a shame.