Radical reform of Scottish drinking laws threatens to dry out Freshers' Week

The most wide-ranging changes in the laws covering the sale of alcohol in Scotland in three decades have been rolled out across Scotland, leading to fears that students will be hit by increased drink prices.

As part of the Scottish executive's efforts to curb what it describes as Scotland's "shocking" alcohol record, a raft of new measures aimed at tackling underage and binge drinking have led to some special offer nights being axed.

James Wallace, Edinburgh University Students Association (EUSA) Vice-President for Services told The Journal: "The new licensing laws will affect students across the city and have impacted upon our bars.

"It will be difficult for students to find cheap drinks, with an evening out in the city bars almost certain to prove more expensive than last year."

As part of the shake-up, drink prices must remain consistent for at least 72 hours. This has led to the end of popular cheap drinks nights such as The Tron's 'Quids' night, which offered selected drinks for as little as a pound on Wednesday evenings. Similarly, bars have been forced to scrap two-for-one deals after promotions that encourage further drinking were also outlawed.

However, SNP MSP Angela Constance told The Journal: "Only irresponsible drinkers will be affected."

Some bars in the city have introduced prolonged periods of cheap drink deals to comply with the new 72-hour pricing rule. EUSA has opted to operate a two-tier system in their Potterow venue, with £1.50 deals available during the week being replaced by a standard price at the weekend. Standard prices have been cut throughout all EUSA venues with the price of a pint falling from £2.05 to £1.80. Student specific deals which operate throughout the day, such as those offered by Yellow Cards, remain unaffected.

There have also been claims from some local bar owners that the introduction of the new rules has caused problems.  The head of the Scottish License Trade Association (SLTA) has claimed that up to 15 per cent of licensed premises throughout Scotland have failed to renew their license, and that there have been differences in implementation policy from the 44 licensing boards throughout the country.

Paul Waterson, Chief Executive of the SLTA told The Journal: "One of the main objects of the new legislation was to streamline the application system, and it has failed miserably, and we don't know how long it will take to sort out.

"The system has broken down completely."

Although he added that moves towards increased training were welcome, he also claimed that the potential for varying approaches taken by different license boards meant that a rule applied in the city could see less emphasis elsewhere.

Mr Waterson was not alone in his scepticism regarding the efficiency of the new system. James Sutherland, manager of popular student cocktail bar 56 North told The Journal that he fully supported the legislation, but said: "I think in the short term there has been a huge amount of confusion in the industry and its not going to get better very quickly.

"There are a huge number of licensed premises who have not applied or been granted their new licenses. There are even more managers and owners who haven't completed the personal licenses."

However, a number of venues have praised the changes, with some saying that creating a level playing field will be positive for businesses in the city. Sarah David, owner of Cabaret Voltaire and co-chairperson of the Unight group of over 40 city centre venues- which introduced a ban on irresponsible offers in all member venues five months ago-told The Journal that the new legislation had only required a "slight tweaking" of promotions.

She said: "The primary objectives of the new act are all part of the Unight constitution that we have been working on for almost two years.

"Obviously there will be a period of adjustment in the interim but I believe the long term benefits will be substantial."

The impact has also been praised by the Scottish Government. However, SNP MSP Ms Constance acknowledged that there was room for discrepancies of implementation: "As licensing is administered at a local level, there will inevitably be some variations between different areas.

"The extent of problems such as health and community safety vary across the country, so it is understandable that some areas with particularly serious problems would perhaps be slightly stricter - and they are perfectly justified in doing so."

The new laws have also had an effect on late-night off-sales. The Delicatessen Peckham's, which has branches near both Edinburgh and Napier universities, used to sell alcohol until midnight but can now only do so until 10pm in line with the new rules.