RETAIL RANDOMS

BEFORE YOU GO: TESCO / ALCOHOL CALORIE LABELLING

FAIR PLAY

Now it’s easy to be cynical about enormous companies making magnanimous gestures in tough times when we haven’t all suffered equally, but fair play to Tesco for running these ads in the national press this week.

Every little does indeed help – and hospitality needs all the help it can get.

A PINT OF LOW CALORIE PLEASE, BARMAN

As if the hospitality trade hasn’t had it tough enough, leaked reports reportedly show that the Government is considering proposals for calorie labelling on pints.

To be fair, the report was actually around labelling of all alcoholic drinks, not just beer. However, focusing on that iconic symbol of Britishness – the pint – makes a much better headline.

Hospitality outlets would be forced, under the proposals, to list calories on menus as well as potentially on pump labels.

The proposals could also affect the off-trade. Pre-packaged alcohol drinks could be forced to carry information on drink driving, calorific content and – most bizarrely of all – personal warnings about the perils of booze from Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty.

And if a personal message from Chris Whitty on your can of Carling doesn’t put you in the mood for another quick one for the road, nothing will.