PEOPLE taking their own drinks into wedding receptions are costing businesses ‘thousands of pounds’ in lost bar takings, hotel owners have said.

The rising cost of alcohol has led to more people smuggling their own bottles of beer, wine and spirits, it has been claimed.

MORE TOP STORIES:

But Neil Bullows, owner of the Whitehall Hotel in Darwen, said it had caused him to lose around £100,000 over the past year.

East Lancashire wedding planner Donna Brown added that guests misbehaving in this way could lead to brides and grooms being charged more or losing their deposits.

Mr Bullows, who owns the hotel in Park Road, said the loss of money meant people could end up losing their jobs.

He said: “It is just getting ridiculous now. I am £100,000 down on last year in the bar and a major factor to that is people bringing in their own alcohol.

“People do not realise the impact they are having.

“It is a problem affecting many and it ultimately results in the loss of jobs. I have had to cut hours of some of my bar staff.

“It is just getting blatant with people bringing their own bottles in and even asking for a glass with ice.

“They are also causing damage to the premises with people putting bottles down the back of the cisterns and stuff like that.

“We are lucky we have the accommodation side of the business and if it was not for that we would have made a loss.

“Businesses have enough problems to deal with already.”

Mr Bullows said, like many other wedding venues, there was a retainer of £250 set aside when functions were booked which was not repaid if people were caught with their own drinks.

He said: “People are told to ask guests not to bring their own alcohol and if we find out they have they lose that retainer.

“It is not an illegal thing to do but it is classed as unreasonable behaviour and we can ask them to leave, which we don’t want to do because it can ruin the wedding.

“It costs the people getting married as well as the venue.

“We want to make sure that people have a fantastic day but so often we end up showing the bride and groom the empty bottles and telling them we need to have a discussion about the retainer.”

Mr Bullows added: “We would normally keep an eye on someone and if they were drinking too much we could refuse to serve them.

“But when they have a bottle of vodka in their bag we have no way of knowing how much they have had.”

Wedding planner Donna Brown, of Pure Elegance Wedding and Event Planning in Blackburn, said: “We discourage people from doing it.

“It is something that happens a lot unfortunately. When people do this the hotel has to recoup its money somehow and it is the bride and groom who will suffer.

“I can understand why people do it because it can be expensive.

“But the only people who will suffer are future brides and grooms as hotels will put their prices up to make their money back.”

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: “It is not an offence to take your own alcohol in licensed premises and it is not covered by any legislation.

“If you take your own bottle into a pub, it is not an offence, but the licensee can ask you to surrender it.

“It is the same for weddings if there is no arrangement for people to take their own alcohol.

“We would encourage licensees to monitor people to make sure they are behaving responsibly.”

HAVE YOU EVER TAKEN ALCOHOL TO A WEDDING?