The purpose of this Bill is to amend the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 to allow premises which contain both a shop and a restaurant (e.g. premises that contain a restaurant and a specialist food store) to hold an on-license for the restaurant part of the premises, but also hold an off-licence for the shop part of the premises under section 36. It also allows premises which hold an on-licence or club licence to provide the option of low or no alcohol beer, wine, or spirits.

Currently, under section 36(e), no shop that is situated (wholly or partially) within a shop is able to obtain an off-licence for their premises. The aim of the amendment in this Bill is to open opportunities for restaurant businesses to offer a broader dining and take-home experience, and therefore maintain their freedom of goods-distribution without compromising the standards of safety and commercial conduct, required under the Act.

The Bill amends section 32 to allow food and drink manufacturers that sell their products (e.g. cheese or cordials) from a retail outlet contained within their manufacturing site and that seek to sell alcohol as a complement to those products to qualify for the grant of an off-licence. They are presently prevented from doing so by section 32 of the Act, which requires that at least 85% of the annual sales revenue of a retail premises be earned from the sale of alcohol for consumption off-site in order to qualify for the grant of an off-licence. The Bill excludes from the calculation of annual sales revenue those goods that are manufactured at the premises.

In addition, the Bill amends section 52 to provide that on-licence or club licence premises must provide either alcohol containing not more than 2.5% ethanol by volume at 20°C and/or beer, wine, or spirits that contain, on analysis, less than 1.15% ethanol by volume.

The Bill also amends section 51 to clarify that the drinks referred to in section 52 are not within the meaning of non-alcoholic drinks required to be available for purchase under section 51.

The growth of the ultra-low and no alcohol market has primarily occurred since the implementation of the Act in 2012. Non-alcoholic beer in particular has experienced significant growth of over 1000% from 2017 — 2024. Paired with the declining demand and therefore production of mid-strength products, this has created an onerous requirement for hospitality businesses to stock products which consumers don’t want, which often reach expiry before being purchased, and which have become more difficult to source as production declines.

A recent Parliament Petitions Committee report on the issue noted: “It is clear that the requirements imposed by the 2012 legislation have restricted what might otherwise have been a natural market movement from low-alcohol to zero-alcohol options. Expanding section 52 to include zero-alcohol options would be preferable to imposing further requirements. We recommend to the Government that section 52 of the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012 be amended to allow licensed venues to meet the requirements of this section by providing low-alcohol or zero-alcohol beverages.”