Last orders for pub loyalty card

A pub chain has pulled plans for an “irresponsible” alcohol loyalty card scheme after The Sunday Post intervened.

The card would have encouraged drinkers to down discounted booze 45 minutes before, during and after TV football matches that were shown at its premises.

The drinks promotion by English chain Sizzling Pubs was advertised online and considered a central plank of the firm’s upcoming promotional activity.

But after the Sunday Post pointed out drinks promotions are outlawed in Scotland the firm performed a U-turn on the initiative.

A spokesman for Sizzling Pubs’ parent company Birmingham-based Mitchells & Butlers, said: “Our Scottish pubs shouldn’t have been included in the participating pubs list due to tighter sale of alcohol conditions in Scotland. We apologise for this oversight and will correct the Green Card website immediately to exclude Scotland.”

Customers were being offered a free Green Card to get a fifth off selected beers and wines while watching Sky Sports and BT Sports. Sizzling Pubs advertised the deal at pubs including The Auctioneers and The Horseshoe Bar, both in Glasgow city centre. The promotion will still be available in England.

Leading alcohol expert Dr Peter Rice of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems, said: “I think it is extraordinary they were putting this forward. They are designed to make people drink as much as they can as quickly as they can. When the ban came in for Scotland, there was widespread acceptance these speed-drinking incentives would be seen as particularly risky.”

Tough rules were brought in under the Licensing (Scotland) Act in 2005, making it illegal to change the price of booze sold within a 72-hour period.

The move was designed to curb drunkenness and violence caused by the number of people downing alcohol against the clock.