Reduce The Strength

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Some UK councils led by Ipswich and then Portsmouth have introduced Reduce The Strength campaigns to reduce alcohol misuse. In Portsmouth alone they’ve calculated alcohol abuse costs £74m annually across the NHS, Police, criminal justice system and council alone. In Ipswich they report a 31% drop in crime.

The idea of Reducing The Strength is to ask off-licences to volunteer to NOT sell beer or cider over 6.5% proof. Shops supporting the scheme are given a sticker to show how responsible they’re being for their local community.

One shop owner said “when we stopped selling high-strength lager there was an immediate change, and the staff say they now feel a lot safer”. As of last summer over 40 councils have introduced this scheme.

One street in Portsmouth has seen a 50% reduction in violent crime.

Do you think such a scheme should be introduced in Lambeth and/or Southwark ?

2 thoughts on “Reduce The Strength

  1. Hedley Mellor says:

    Problem is it’s too blunt a weapon. You’re trying to stop cans of K and Special Brew sold in brown paper bags and all the violence they fuel, a laudable aim. But you also hit the craft beer shops with their London-brewed IPAs and Somecider scrumpies. I doubt any of them feel unsafe or can be linked to increased violence, yet the scheme paints then with same ‘irresponsible’ tag.

    • James Barber says:

      tHe scheme excludes premium products. Effectively a minimum alcohol price for high strength beers and ciders. And it appears to have worked a treat where it has been introduced.

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