| Friday, 01 February 2008 | |
|
MP backs calls for smaller wine glasses Dartford MP, Dr Howard Stoate, has given his backing to a new bill in Parliament calling for the reintroduction of traditional 125 ml wine glasses in licensed premises.In recent years 125 ml glasses have been steadily phased out in many pubs and bars and have been replaced by larger 175 ml and 250 ml size glasses. Dr Stoate, who is a practising GP, is concerned about the impact that this ‘supersizing’ policy is having on people’s drinking habits and their health. The Sale of Wine (Measures) Bill was presented to the Commons on Wednesday by Liberal Democrat MP, Greg Mulholland and has cross party support. The bill has also been supported by the Good Food Guide and by Alcohol Concern. “With many bars and pubs now selling wine only in 175 and 250 ml glasses, many people are now unwittingly consuming far more alcohol in a sitting than they had intended to. When most people ask for a glass of wine in a pub or bar it’s a standard 125 ml glass that they have in mind – not a 175 ml or 250 ml glass. 250 ml, let’s not forget, is almost third of a bottle of wine so three glasses equates to nearly a full bottle or up to 9 units of alcohol depending on its strength;” said Dr Stoate. “I’m concerned that this deliberate ‘supersizing policy’ is causing people to misjudge the actual number of alcohol units they are consuming each week. Most recommended guidelines for wine consumption use the 125 ml glass as the standard measure, not a 175 ml or 250 ml glass. That’s why I’m supporting this bill which will require licensed premises to offer 125 ml measures once again as well as larger measures.” Notes The Sale of Wine (Measures) Bill would require licensed premises which sell wine by the glass to offer measures of 125ml. It has been supported by 12 MPs: Greg Mulholland, Dr. Richard Taylor, John Thurso, Mr. Andrew Dismore, Mr. John Grogan, Lorely Burt, Peter Luff, Mr. Don Foster, Dr. Howard Stoate, Kelvin Hopkins, Mr. Nigel Evans and Peter Bottomley. The Good Pub Guide 2006” states:“This year we have spotted an unnerving trend for pubs to push up the size of their wine glasses, and of course the price of what’s inside them. A standard glass of wine was 125ml...Now, many pubs use a 175ml glass as standard...To them, a large glass is 250ml, or a third of a bottle. This isn’t generosity, it’s just a way of getting more money into their tills, leaving many customers drinking more than they want to, and perhaps if they are driving, more than is safe. We suggest all pubs selling wine use the 125ml glass as their standard size.” A 125ml glass of 12.5% wine is deemed to be 1.5 units, a 175ml glass of the same wine is 2 units and a 250ml glass is 3 units. Most wines today are in the range of 11.5-13.5% with many New World wines as high as 14% or 14.5%. Data published by the Office for National Statistics in January suggests men drink an average of 18.7 units of alcohol a week, compared with 9.0 units for women. Some 21% of men and 11% of women had drunk on at least five of the seven days before the survey of about 16,500 households was carried out. |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
Constituency
|
|||||
Parliament
|
|||||
© 2008 Dr Howard Stoate - Member of Parliament for Dartford
Joomla! is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License. JoomSEF SEO by Artio (http://www.artio.net) - databases, information system and web applications