Letter from J Adams (From This Is Wiltshire)

Letter from J Adams

3:25pm Friday 30th July 2010 in

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'Calling Time on 24 Hour Boozing.' ( SA July 29).

YATES' Wine Lodge manager, Gemma Rowlands, says: "Over the past five years we have seen a massive increase in the amount of pre-loading, where people drink at home before they come out, because alcohol in the supermarkets is so cheap."

Supermarkets are not selling booze at low prices. On the contrary, it is the pub, that once great British institution, which is selling booze at greatly inflated prices, even soft drinks. If Yates' manager, Gemma Rowlands, discovered a cheaper supplier of food, with the same quality, for her premises, or cheaper cleaning staff, would she not switch in order to save money? It's called competition! Cannot customers then, follow likewise?

She makes a rather naive assumption that if supermarket booze were to rocket in price, then customers would flock a lot earlier in the evening to her pub and in droves? Has she not missed the point here? The very reason why customers do not flock anymore to pubs is precisely because of high prices.

I used to enjoy a weekly tipple at the local pub until I decided, price- wise, enough was enough.

Little wonder (and a sad one at that), pubs nationwide are closing at the rate of fifty a week, thanks to greedy brewers and taxation from successive governments, neither of which could care less about the communities destroyed in the process.

J ADAMS Bloomsbury Swindon