Steve Cardownie: 10% off doesn't encourage irresponsible drinking

I recently spoke to Councillor Norman Work, who chairs the city's Licensing Board, about the current review of the application of licensing policy in Edinburgh.

Giving students 10% off isn't going to encourage irresponsible drinking

I particularly wanted his take on “drink promotions” and whether all such promotions contravened the terms of Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005. I drew attention to question about loyalty cards, student discount and pensioner discount schemes which operate in some establishments throughout the city, citing the example of one such establishment withdrawing its loyalty card from patrons as they said that they had been told by Edinburgh licensing officials that the operation of such a scheme was illegal. This is despite the fact that the promotion ran for more than 72 hours and the offer of a 10 per cent discount could hardly be deemed to be encouraging irresponsible drinking.

The advice I have been given by licensing experts is that such promotions are not illegal and should continue as before. Although Councillor Work was surprised (and doubtful) that officials would advocate such a course of action he did undertake to ensure that the spirit (pun intended) of the Act would be universally applied throughout the city.