Fasten your seatbelts ...

(From Off Licence News)

The Treasury has delivered its starkest warning yet to the trade that it should expect duty to rise sharply in March, confirming fears senior industry figures have shared with OLN over the past few months. Duty hikes are likely to be dressed up as a responsibility crusade by the government. a This comes as Office of National Statistics data shows drinking in the UK is actually going down. There are some seriously jumpy people in the industry right now, and there has never been a better time for suppliers and retailers, large and small, to get involved in lobbying the government, whether directly or through your trade association. It's going to be a bumpy ride - sharp duty hikes are likely to hit suppliers, independents and wholesalers rather than consumers and are the last thing the sector needs. aCreature discomfortsaBack to that ONS data, and it seems the off-trade is doing pretty well when it comes to getting responsible drinking messages across to shoppers. Those questioned were more likely to pick supermarkets and shops as places they'td seen unit labelling information (81 per cent) than any other licensed business. aAlso good news for the off-trade is the finding that in 2007 52 per cent of women and 50 per cent of men had drunk an alcoholic drink at home in a typical week, compared with 33 per cent of men and 22 per cent of women who'td had a drink ...