‘Let pubs be off-licences in lockdown to help us survive’, industry body CAMRA begs

Industry body The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has renewed calls on Government to allow pubs to act as off-licences and sell pints in "sealed containers" during the new national lockdown.

The latest raft of lockdown laws, legally allowed to remain in place until March 31, ban hospitality businesses from selling alcohol on-site even to takeaway - unlike during the second lockdown in November, when venues could sell pints via click-and-collect.

Pubs and restaurants are still allowed to deliver alcohol to customers' homes as part of a delivery service, but Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, said the new rules are “yet another blow” to the hard-hit sector. CAMRA chair, Nik Antona, has said it could tip hundreds of pubs over the edge into insolvency in the coming months.

CAMRA wrote this week to business minister Alok Sharma asking for “urgent clarification and assurances” that pubs would be able to operate as off-licenses. The call was backed in Parliament on Wednesday by the Tory MP for Stroud, Siobhan Bailie, and the campaign has received thousands of statements of support online and via letters written to MPs.

Antona said on Thursday that the current situation gives other businesses an "unfair advantage" over pubs and breweries, and will "force customers" into supermarkets.

He said: "It is absolutely unfair that whilst big supermarkets can continue to sell alcohol, our struggling local pubs in England can’t act as an off-licence too.

“This was a real lifeline for many pubs during previous lockdowns and is desperately needed again now, with landlords up and down the country struggling to make ends meet after months of closures, curfews and restrictions. Pubs are also the only place where people can get cask beer which is under threat due to months of forced pub closures, with some breweries stopping production."

He continued: “The least the Government can do is take a sensible approach, think again and allow community pubs to sell takeaway products. No-one wants to see drinking in the streets during a lockdown – but allowing pubs to sell alcohol in sealed containers for people to take home – just like shops do – would be completely reasonable."

But the Government today officially stated that pubs should not attempt to “repurpose” themselves as off-licences.

A spokesperson told the Standard that “pubs and other hospitality venues cannot serve alcohol to takeaway to discourage people from gathering outside their premises… They should not attempt to repurpose themselves as shops or off-licenses in order to circumvent these restrictions.”  

The spokesperson noted that sites can still sell alcohol via home delivery, and pointed to the Government’s CJRS and both ongoing and new support packages for businesses.