Police fear that a bid to sell more cheap shots at a Newcastle bar will turn it into a place for students to “fuel themselves” with cut-price booze.
Mosley Street club Bijoux is facing opposition from city authorities after asking for permission to expand its offer of £3 trebles from its ground floor to its first and second floors. The popular venue was the first in the city to offer lower alcohol 20% ABV shots, half the strength of the usual 40% and also sold at half the price.
Solicitor Christopher Rees-Gay told a Newcastle City Council hearing on Tuesday that the pricing policy helped reduce levels of drunkenness and that Bijoux boss Dan Miller wanted to extend the offer to the bar’s upstairs sections in order to make it an entirely student-focused venue every night of the week. Mr Rees-Gay claimed that the move would cause a “de-intensification” of activity on the city centre’s famous Diamond Strip because customers would likely stay in Bijoux for longer because of the new offers upstairs, rather than moving between different Diamond Strip clubs, and insisted that the deal does not make drinks cheaper for the level of alcohol received.
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But Northumbria Police warned members of the council’s licensing sub-committee that the cut-price offer will encourage people to drink more and make Bijoux somewhere where students “fuel themselves” with cheap alcohol before moving elsewhere.
Sergeant Julie Cottiss said: “It will attract students and it could lead to a situation where students buy more drinks than they otherwise would because they feel that they are getting a bargain. It is the same as when you go to a supermarket and it’s buy one get one free – you buy things you don’t necessarily need because you think you are getting a bargain.”
She added: “I believe more drinks will be purchased and that will lead a patron to consume more alcohol than they would have originally because they are buying it at a cheaper and more attractive price.” Council environmental health expert Angela Wallis also raised concerns that “a customer could consume more alcohol, faster, over a shorter duration of time”, thereby creating an “inaccurate idea of their consumption” and increasing their vulnerability.
Mr Rees-Gay responded that the offer was “in no way an irresponsible promotion” and other venues sell stronger shots at cheaper rates. He said the policy was “not about making money”, rather a desire to move away from Bijoux’s ‘Millionaires’ Weekend’ operation on Saturdays, and that the objections were “based on what may happen rather than being based on any actual evidence”.
Mr Miller also told the committee that he hoped the move would deliver the same amount of sales at Bijoux for 60% of the footfall, a “far better way to progress and manage the premises and make it more enjoyable for the clients coming and for our staff”. He said drinkers currently only spend 20 minutes to half an hour in Bijoux on average, compared to up to two hours at some of its rivals.
The council is due to issue a decision within five working days on whether the licence application will be approved.
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