WIREDGOV

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents more than 370 councils in England and Wales with responsibility for public health, is urging the drinks industry to produce more low strength cider, wine, beer and spirits with fewer or zero units of alcohol.

More alcohol-free and lower-strength cider, wine, beer and spirits are needed to help tackle a ticking time-bomb caused by drink-related health problems, meet growing demand for them and help ease the pressure on the pub trade, councils are urging.

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents more than 370 councils in England and Wales with responsibility for public health, is urging the drinks industry to produce more low strength cider, wine, beer and spirits with fewer or zero units of alcohol. It wants government to support this by extending current tax breaks on beer to lower strength ciders, wine and spirits to enable them to be sold more cheaply than their higher strength equivalents.

This would contribute to reducing harm caused by alcohol and tackle the annual £3.5 billion cost to the NHS of dealing with excessive alcohol consumption. It would also help cater for a 40 per cent rise in younger people choosing not to drink when they go out, over the past decade as well as those seeking to moderate their alcohol intake, the LGA said.

Widening the availability of low-strength and alcohol-free drinks would revitalise pubs - which are closing at a rate of nearly 30 a week - and re-establish them as vibrant centres of communities and social occasions.

Charging duty rates based on the strength of a drink would help to reverse the current system which results in the strongest, most harmful drinks sold in supermarkets and off-licences being the cheapest available – which is contributing to the death knell of pubs as the heart of communities.

In 2011, when the Government halved tax on weaker beers of 2.8 per cent ABV or less, sales of these beers rose by more than 40 per cent nationwide within a year. From 2013/2014 there was a further 8.4 per cent growth in off-trade sales of zero and low alcohol beer in the UK.

A survey by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) also shows that 52 per cent of drinkers would consume a lower-strength beer if it was on sale in their local pub, while several ‘dry bars' have opened up across the country, some of which help fund services for people with alcohol addictions.

Cllr Tony Page, Licensing spokesman on the LGA's Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said:

"Increasing the availability of zero alcohol and weaker strength drinks will help people live healthier lives by helping to control drinking levels and tackle the harm caused by excessive drinking.

"With a new generation of non-drinkers on the rise, there is a growing demand for greater choice in alcohol-free and weaker drinks, with several ‘dry bars' opening up across the country. 

"Tax breaks for beer have helped fuel a rise in low-strength products. This should now be extended to cider, wine and spirits. This would support and reward the development of low-strength, low-harm drinks that are making a significant contribution to improving long-term health impacts, such as liver disease, and save money for the public purse.

"More lower strength and alcohol-free drinks would also allow responsible workers to enjoy a lunch-time pint and those on medication or who are ‘going dry' for a period.

"The drinks industry and several retailers have gone some way to make and sell lower strength drinks but we want them to go much further.

"Drinking habits are changing and brewers need to capitalise on this by producing a range of different options of drinks for people and to help to re-establish pubs as the vibrant, social heart of communities."

Case studies

Alcohol Concern held its first annual Zero Alcohol Awards this year. The first three venues were highly commended. The fourth enterprise won a separate, major award:

The Brink, Liverpool

The Brink is a recovery social enterprise, which means that all profits go directly back into the community to fund support for those who have suffered through alcoholism and addiction. It serves alcohol-free drinks sourced from around the world, including cocktails, smoothies and fresh presses containing ingredients such as oranges, apples, carrots, celery, beetroot, radishes and ginger. Its craft brewed soft drinks include ginger beer, root beer, lemon and lime bitters, guava, blood orange and pink grapefruit.

Sobar, Nottingham

The first alcohol-free bar, restaurant and venue in the East Midlands, Sobar has been developed by Double Impact, a Nottingham-based drug and alcohol recovery charity with the support of a grant from the Big Lottery Fund. The initial concept for Sobar came from the users of Double Impact services who found that one of the main barriers to their recovery was social isolation and the lack of places to go that are alcohol free, particularly in the evenings and weekends. Sobar is a Community Interest Company so all profits go directly back into Double Impact to help fund the services needed to support people in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. The bar also provides opportunities for people in recovery to gain valuable experience, training, volunteering and employment.

Redemption Bar, London (Shoreditch and Notting Hill)

London's first teetotal restaurants, serving up vegan, sugar-free, and wheat-free food with alcohol-free bars. They serve super-healthy food, including raw desserts, have a zero waste policy and aim for a zero or positive environmental footprint.

Square Root Soda Works, Hackney, London

Square Root was started by two people in 2012 selling hand-made ginger beer at a farmers market. After proving popular they branched out to make new flavours every week from fresh, seasonal produce and founded their own production and bottling space in a railway arch in Hackney. In 2015 the company was named ‘Best Drinks Producer' in the Food and Farming awards – the first soft drinks company to win the award. Its sodas include cola, root beer, rhubarb, coffee and hibiscus and bourbon vanilla.

Notes to editors

• According to the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) there were 1,059,210 hospital admissions in England attributable to alcohol consumption in 2013-14 – a rise of 115 per cent in the past 10 years. Excessive alcohol consumption is estimated to cost the NHS around £3.5 billion per year. About 1.6 million adults in England are dependent on alcohol - HSCIC "Statistics on Alcohol: England, 2015"
• The number of those aged 16-25 choosing not to drink has risen by 40 per cent over the last decade, according to the Office for National Statistics (Adult Drinking Habits in Great Britain, 2013)
• Mitchells & Butlers, the UK's biggest managed pubs and restaurants group, says soft drinks now outsell alcohol at some of its brands - Telegraph "Pubs 'no longer all about alcohol', says All Bar One-owner"
• CAMRA estimated that 29 pubs closed every week in the second half of 2014
• 30 per cent of people say not drinking alcohol stops them from going to pubs and bars – YouGov's ‘Pub and bars report', 2013
• Dry January – in which drinkers give up alcohol for a month - has soared in popularity in the past few years, with one in six Britons taking part in 2016 and 71 per cent completing the challenge - Alcohol Concern "New survey reveals 1 in 6 Brits went Dry this January"
• The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA)is calling for further reduction on excise duty on beer less than or equal to 2.8 per cent ABV. Since 2011, brewers have removed over 1.2 billion units of alcohol from the market place - BBPA Alcohol Responsibility Report September 2015
• The Responsibility Deal established by the coalition government had a commitment from some producers/retailers to offer lower strength alternatives - Department of Health "New Responsibility Deal alcohol pledges published"
• Club Soda's work with pubs and bars to improve their offer to customers who drink less or not at all: "Nudging Pubs" 
• Beer sold in the UK has an average abv of 4.2 per cent - British Beer and Pub Association