Mixed reaction to fixed-price booze

GREATER Manchester could become the first place in the country to ban cheap booze. The region’s council chiefs want to make it illegal for shops and pubs to sell alcohol for less than 50p a unit to tackle binge drinking.

But is £6 for a six pack of lager, £4,50 for a bottle of wine or £14 for a bottle of whisky too much for drinkers to swallow?

Reporter Karen Doherty asked parents and grandparents at King George V Playing fields, Uppermill.

Graham Hardy (64) from Mossley would go further and said: “It is a good idea to stop binge drinking, but it needs to be a pound not 50p.

“Increasing the age you buy alcohol at to 21 would be better and the police should enforce the law and stop them drinking on the streets.”

Wife Jean (61) also backed a minimum price but said: “You can’t really have it just in one place, it has to be across the board or people would go elsewhere.”

Mark Dent (38) from Stalybridge agreed: “They could try it and see the results, but it would have to be a long-term thing rather than just a short-term fix.

“People would just go elsewhere, especially where I live. I am two minutes from Derbyshire and I would go to the cheapest place.”

But Angie Maguire (35) from Springhead does not think increased prices would deter binge drinkers and could even push up shoplifting.

“It penalises people who do not take it to the extreme, those who work hard all week and like a bottle of wine at the weekend,” she added.

This view was shared by Thelma Dent (59) from Dobcross who said: “It is going to hit people who only have a moderate amount of alcohol.

“A better idea might be to stop 24-hour drinking and have pubs closing like they used to.”

Another who agreed was Sarah Brown (27) from Springhead: “People who are sensible are going to get hit in the pocket for it. I enjoy a drink at the weekend, but I am not stupid about it, and I do not want to pay more.

“Binge drinking has been going on for a long time but it is only recently it has been highlighted.”

Her mother-in-law Anne Brown (63) from Roundthorn added: “It’s the young ones when they get to 14/15 years old. There is nothing for them to do. They just hang around the streets then they get bored and have a drink.

“When I was young I had somewhere to go every night.”

John Skinner (69) from Uppermill blamed supermarkets for selling cheap booze and explained: “The supermarkets are the real problem, they are ruining it.

“Whit Friday up here you couldn’t get into the Co-op because the boxes were stacked to the ceiling.

“There were complains because of the beer but people weren’t bringing it in, they were buying it from the supermarket here.”