Alcohol
Excessive alcohol consumption can be the cause of long-term health risks. We take a responsible approach to selling alcohol.
The overwhelming majority of people who buy alcohol from our stores drink responsibly. But for a small minority this may not always be the case.
Our cashiers receive training on the sale of alcohol and other age-restricted products four times a year, supported by a bespoke DVD and training materials. We use our internal channels of communication, including our staff newspaper, to provide cashiers with regular reminders of their responsibilities towards the sale of alcohol. Our training materials are frequently shared with independent local retailers to support the training of their staff too. We use mystery shoppers to test whether our cashiers are correctly challenging customers to prove their age.
Our UK Marketing Director has been a trustee of the Drinkaware Trust since its inception in 2007. Drinkaware is an independent UK charity that aims to change public behaviour and the national drinking culture by bringing together health professionals and the industry to deliver the Government’s Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy.
COMMUNITY ALCOHOL PARTNERSHIPS
A project in St Neots, Cambridgeshire in 2008 was extremely successful in reducing under-age drinking and antisocial behaviour. The number of youths found in possession of alcohol fell by 94% and people felt that public spaces were more pleasant because they were cleaner and there was less group drinking. Our St Neots store was the leading retailer involved in the project.
Following the success of the pilot in St Neots we are working on Community Alcohol partnership projects in other parts of the country. http://www.wsta.co.uk/Community-Alcohol-Partnerships.html
Other steps that we have taken include:
- Improved bottle labelling: We were the first supermarket to introduce labels showing the units of alcohol in our own-brand alcohol and we are now rolling out the recommended Department of Health alcohol labelling on all our own-brand packs, showing the unit measurements, the recommended maximum daily intake and health messages.
- More customer information in stores: We have been working in partnership with Diageo over the last two years to provide customer information through point-of-sale material, shelf-edge labels and on Tesco TV.
For more information on health related issues please visit our dedicated website
