Four major supermarket chains have joined forces with the police in Northampton to promote responsible drinking in the run up to Christmas. Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco will be promoting the ‘Are You Thinking About Drinking’ message at their stores in December.
The message, which encourages social responsibility around alcohol, is pivotal joint working with Northampton’s Community Safety Partnership, Northamptonshire County Council’s Trading Standards Department, and also the liquor licensing and public health authorities. The stores will be:-
•displaying ‘alcohol responsible’ information on noticeboards and at checkouts
•pledging to ensure the responsible marketing, promotion and display of alcohol around the festive period
•enforcing the ‘Challenge 25’ initiative designed to combat the sale of alcohol to those under-age
Police officers from Safer Community Teams will be visiting the stores in December, speaking to shoppers, offering crime prevention advice and handing out ‘alcohol responsible’ leaflets.
Chief Insp Fay Tennet, Northamptonshire Police’s lead on community safety, will be heading the delivery of the alcohol responsible message. She spoke of the problem of pre-loading, whereby young people drink at home before going into town already inebriated.
She said: “Pre-loading is a big issue for us. By and large it is those who have pre-loaded alcohol and are drunk by the time they get into town that cause us the problems with violence, disorder and anti-social behaviour.
“And it is in this context that parents might ask themselves if they are condoning or encouraging this sort of behaviour by buying drink for their children or allowing them to drink irresponsibly.
“The level of alcohol-related crime and disorder in Northamptonshire is too high and it costs the force almost £1.5m every year just to put police officers and staff on town centre streets during weekend evenings.
“At a time when we have to contend with cuts to our budget, it is arguably public money that could be better invested in other areas.
“Violence offences in the county, the majority of which can be attributed to the influence of alcohol, rose by five per cent in the last crime recording year.
“We don’t want to do is demonise the vast majority of people who work hard, drink responsibly and do not create a problem for others.
“And we don’t want to make scapegoats of retailers who are in the business of returning a profit.
“But drinkers, parents and retailers – together with the police, local authorities and legislators – do have a clear responsibility around alcohol and should be asking themselves the question ‘are we thinking about drinking?’
“This is a very welcome initiative with local supermarkets which, I hope, will have very clear benefits in focussing minds on being responsible around alcohol.”
Chief Inspector Tennet said there was significant public support around tackling alcohol-related crime and disorder.
She added: “The police and the licensing authorities will be taking a tough stance with those who are irresponsible around alcohol. The public has made clear that this is what they expect from us.
“We are pleased that the major drinks retailers, who can afford to sell alcohol cheaply, appreciate they have a clear responsibility in the way they conduct their business too.
“The retailers will be strictly applying the Challenge 21/25 initiative and signing up to a clear message to parents of under-age children and the young drinkers themselves.”
Councillor David Mackintosh, member of the Northampton Community Safety Partnership and Northampton Borough Council cabinet member for community safety, said: “Anything that helps encourage more social responsibility around alcohol is to be welcomed.
“Whether we are a local agency, retailer, pub, club or parent, we all have a responsibility to raise awareness of the issue and not to shy away.
“It is therefore great to see four of the town’s major supermarket chains taking responsibility and getting on board with this campaign.”
Councillor Ben Smith, Northamptonshire County Council’s Cabinet member for the Environment, said: “It is pleasing to work with responsible businesses to build a culture of responsible marketing, re-enforcing the Challenge 25 ‘No ID – No Sale’ policy that prevents underage sales.”
Nigel Dean, store manager at the Grosvenor Centre Sainsbury’s in Northampton, said: “We take our responsibilities as a licensed retailer and a member of the local community very seriously.
“We are delighted to help this initiative and continue our close work with Northamptonshire Police to help our customers drink responsibly.”
Warren Elkin, manager at the Thornton Road Asda store in Northampton, added: Being a responsible alcohol retailer is an important part of our role in the community and we’re happy to support this campaign with Northamptonshire Police.”
