Shopkeepers have said Scotland’s new minimum pricing law could result in the cheapest strong white ciders being removed from shelves since “no-one will buy them”.

The new 50p per unit price will mean a three-litre bottle of strong 7.5 per cent cider costs £7.50, trebling the price of some brands.

Shopkeepers in Glasgow were asked about the impact the law would have on trade.

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Independent off-sales owners in Glasgow said the threshold would not affect most of those looking to buy alcohol. But they said they would no longer stock strong ciders like Pulse or Frosty Jacks as customers would no longer buy them.

In High Spirit Off Sales in West Nile Street, Betty Glen served one customer two cans of Tennent’s Super Lager costing £1.99 each. She said that price would not change.

“It will affect HCC cider, that will double in price from £1 a can to £2,” she added.

She served another customer four cans and told him it would cost £8 from tomorrow.

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The customer said: “I know they are trying to stop the weans drinking but what about the adults?”

Ms Glen said she was not impressed by the minimum pricing strategy.

She said: “They should look at why people drink in the first place rather than the price of the drink.

“It is just to make it look like they are doing something about the drink problem. It won’t affect my customers. It won’t affect much of what I sell. I won’t order any more Frosty’s or Pulse. I didn’t sell a lot of it anyway.”

In Dumbarton Road, Mr P Singh in Day-Today has just re-priced most of his stock to meet the new laws.

He has around a dozen bottles of Pulse strong cider still with a label price of £2.49 for a two-litre bottle.

He said he would sell some of it before closing, but added that he would not stock it anymore.

He said: “My customers have been OK with the new law. Some have complained but

most do not have a problem with it.

“I won’t sell the strong ciders any more. At more than £11 no-one will buy it. They will buy something else.”

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In Edinburgh, Norine Aslam, 37, who runs the Top Cellar off-licence in Leith, welcomed the new law. She said: “As a shopkeeper I think it’s a positive thing for the public to just control the alcohol problem in Scotland. I’m all for it.

“I think it’s more positive than negative so I think it will be good.”

Supermarket groups declined to offer detail on planned price rises. Tesco said: “We wouldn’t comment on the specifics at this stage.”

Morrisons said it would take too much time to gather the information, some of which would be commercially sensitive.

Asda did not respond to a request for comment.