Are the supermarkets killing community pubs with irresponsibly cheap beer, wines and spirits?
You are confusing 2 different issues together, 1 being that people buy alcohol in supermarkets and no longer go to pubs and 2 binge drinking. These are 2 different markets. The drink costs more in the pub because you are paying not just for the drink but for sitting in the pub in a social atmosphere, meeting people, listening to music etc… But people also buy alcohol in the supermarket to drink it at home / barbecue etc… so it is cheaper and the relationship between the seller and customer is different. One way of reducing binge drinking is increasing the price of alcohol (through taxes). It is irrelevant where the alcohol is bought. There are also many other ways of tackling this problem.
