Taking on social responsibility

William Reed Publishing and its leading business magazines for the on and off-trades, the Morning Advertiser and OLN, this weekend launched a major Responsible Drinks Retailing campaign and awards scheme. M&C Report is also putting its weight behind the initiative, which importantly will encompass both the on and off trade sectors. The aim is to highlight the measures that the industry should now seriously be contemplating if it is to avoid a major Government-inspired crackdown. The campaign will culminate in an awards event on October 14 where those judged the best exponents of "responsible drinks retailing" will be rewarded and held up as role models to the rest of the trade, local authorities and central government. Companies and individual sites can enter. There is also an award for local authorities M&C Report and Martin Info are giving their support to the programme not because of any moral sensibilities but simply because social responsibility is perhaps the biggest single challenge facing the drinks retailing business. All operators have to face up to the pressures from Government, the public, their staff and potentially their own investors too to act responsibly in the way they run their businesses. It’s not a matter of prescribing any particular approach – and there are many arguments about what is or isn’t responsible - but these awards can act as a valuable catalyst for operators to come up with imaginative initiatives that best suit them, their customers and the wider community. Industry bodies such as the Wine & Spirit Association, the Association of Convenience Stores, the British Retail Consortium, the Portman Group, the British Institute of Innkeeping, Federation of Wholesale Distributors, the British Beer & Pub Association and the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers have also lent their backing. It’s an issue that is not going to go away. The pub, bar and wider drinks retailing industry at least has an opportunity to demonstrate that it is engaged. For more details go to the campaign’s website - www.responsibledrinksretailing.co.uk.