BAN ON SCOTCH WHISKY

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28766, 11 December 1958, Page 20

BAN ON SCOTCH WHISKY

Paris Reprisal For Champagne Ruling (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) PARIS, December 9. Bars banned Scotch whisky and siphons were silent on the boulevards of Paris today as angry French proprietors decided to punish whisky for the “sins” of Spanish champagne. As retaliation for the London Court decision allowing a Spanish sparkling wine to bear the name champagne, a fashionable chain of 17 French bars, called “Whisky a Gogo”—“Whisky Galore”— closed down for a week. The chief of these bars in western Paris, situated ironically enough, in the Rue du Beaujolais, had a sign with the rather odd slogan: “Scotch remains English, champagne must remain French.” There were groans and shudders among the Scots community in Paris at a rumour of the possibility of making a “Scotch whisky” in France. Scots asked why they should suffer for an English decision. Letter to Ambassador Mr Paul Pacini, founder and chairman of the Whisky a Gogo bars, delivered a letter to the British Embassy, addressed to the Ambassador (Sir Gladwyn Jebb). “The whole world knows there is only one champagne, that which springs from the French soil and bears a spirit and a poetry which can only be French,” he wrote. “We strongly urge other establishments selling British drinks in France to join in this movement of solidarity towards one of the shining glories of our national heritage,” Mr Pacini said. “The Whisky a Gogo chain protests strongly and with justification against the decision of the British Courts.” Trade circles in Paris doubted whether the Whisky a Gogo lead would be followed by the big hotels and bars which, they said, accounted for the bulk of Scotch sales. France last year imported about 66,000 gallons of Scotch whisky in bottles and about 6800 gallons in casks.