Published: March 31, 2008
Burnham-On-Sea pubs pass test on under-age drinking

An undercover operation carried out by Trading Standards officers and police in Burnham-On-Sea over the weekend has found pubs in the town centre are not willing to break the law by selling alcohol to under-age drinkers.

A special operation on Friday evening (March 28th) saw two volunteer teenagers - aged fifteen and sixteen - try to illegally buy drinks at five pubs in Burnham whilst being monitored by Trading Standards officials.

However, unlike an operation last summer, none of the pubs sold alcohol to the youngsters, much to the delight of Trading Standards and Burnham police.

A similar undercover study last year - which was first reported by Burnham-On-Sea.com in August 2007 - saw four of five pubs failing the test and selling drink to a under-age volunteer, thereby breaking licensing laws.

Burnham South Neighbourhood Beat Manager PC Pete Wills said: "The original results from December were disappointing, but we have worked with licensees during the first part of this year and that has obviously had an effect."

"Following Friday's test purchase orders, we met with trading standards and Sedgemoor District Council's licensing department and visited each pub again to congratulate them."

"It is obviously good news for the town that licensees are supporting this multi-agency approach to solving the problem of underage drinking and associated anti-social behaviour that come with it."

As part of the Somerset Tackling Alcohol Related Crime, (STARC), project staff at all the venues which failed the original checks were given training on how to be more responsible in the selling of alcohol – with positive results.

The pubs tested on Friday were the Lighthouse, Somerset and Dorset, Pier Tavern, Wetherspoons Reed's Arms, and The Railway.

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Study finds Burnham pubs and off licences flouting drinking laws