Dan Oakes
July 17, 2012
The Age
AFTER 15 years of trading in the centre of Footscray, Grant Miles could no longer stand by and watch the havoc wrought by alcohol abuse and public drunkenness on the streets of the inner west.
In a move that could cost him tens of thousands of dollars this year – but has been applauded by local police – Mr Miles has torn up his liquor licence and stopped selling alcohol at his discount grocery shop.
Mr Miles, who owns Cheaper Buy Miles in the mall section of Nicholson Street and is the president of the Footscray Traders Association, said he could no longer sell alcohol with a clear conscience while it was causing such damage to the community.
”I feel that in some small way I might have been contributing to problems of alcohol abuse in Footscray and the surrounding areas,” he told The Age.
Advertisement
”It’s hard to take the high moral ground when I’m in meetings with the council and the traders association. I often have the finger pointed at me because I sell alcohol.”
Mr Miles’ shop is near Maddern Square, which The Age reported last week had become a meeting point for young African men wanting to get drunk on cheap alcohol.
”There has been public drinking for a long time, but the crew that are hanging around Maddern Square at the back of my shop are usually younger guys, 18-25, and that seems to be a new development,” he said.
Mr Miles said he had sold $80,000 worth of alcohol in the past financial year, which accounted for about 10 per cent of his revenue.
He said there were another six shops within a 500-metre radius of his that sold alcohol, and he believed their proprietors could take measures to tackle problem drinking without ceasing to sell alcohol entirely.
”I don’t think there would be willingness to do what I’ve done, but there are other things they can do,” he said.
”They can stop selling refrigerated alcohol, or simply put the prices up. Some of the products that are popular with problem drinkers are obviously cheap. If you delete those products or put the price up, it’s not as available to them.”
The damage caused by public drunkenness has again been thrust to the fore of public consciousness by the death last week of New South Wales teenager Tom Kelly, who died after being punched in the head during a night out in Kings Cross.
Maribyrnong area police inspector Tony Long applauded Mr Miles’ decision and said it would help reduce alcohol-related harm in the centre of Footscray primarily, but also in the wider community.
Inspector Long said a bottle shop in Footscray market had closed recently, and an IGA supermarket with an alcohol section that had been expected to open in the redevelopment of the old Forges building had not gone ahead.
”So not having another major supermarket liquor outlet there, plus with what Grant is doing and the other bottle shop closing, we’re hoping to reduce the amount of available liquor within the CBD quite considerably,” he said.
Footscray police regularly fine people for drinking in the street – including the African youths in Maddern Square – but when The Age visited Mr Miles’ shop at 12.30pm, there were four people holding open bottles or cans of alcohol in the Nicholson Street mall.
Subscribe to our free mailing list and always be the first to receive the latest news and updates.