I’m sick of hearing about pubs having to put their prices up because of their overheads, bills etc. If they just did this, they would sell a lot more beers, have a lot more customer and everybody would be happier. 

by reuben876

28 comments

  3. Wow I can’t believe it was that easy all along and people running pubs and bars have just been stupid. You should go and tell them, they’ll be kicking themselves.

  4. Doesn’t say anything about beer being a pint, might be fizzy water….

  6. When you pay for a pint, you’re covering more than just the liquid. Staff costs. Business rates. Rent. [Source](https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/pint-beer-pub-london-business-rates-alcohol-reeves-pay-tax-b1260367.html).

    I’m willing to bet most pubs don’t make any margin on £5 after the latest budget. [Source](https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-12356477/This-price-pint-pays-cost-beer-rises.html) from 2023.

    I used to work in restructuring. If I was challenged to get every pub in London to make 5% on a £5 pint I’d be advising them to do some nasty shit. Think sacking staff and replacing them with pint pouring machines. Simplifying the menu to enable you to sack the skilled and expensive kitchen staff. Charge entry after 10:30pm on a Saturday night and consider variable pricing at peak times to offset lower costs in the week. Some of that wouldn’t be palatable for customers and the volume wouldn’t be there…indicating that it’s probably unsustainable and unreasonable to expect all pubs to charge £5.

  7. There’s a Simmons near Liverpool Street that does £4 pints of Guinness. Only during certain hours though, I think it was something like 4-9pm.

  8. As much as I don’t like Spoons because of the owner, you can’t beat their prices. On the weekend I paid £20 for three pints, a pizza and a portion of chips.

  9. What you’re not taking into account is that this is for pints of bovril.

  11. You can normalise it if you want but I hope this doesn’t make its way up north! £5 a pint 😳 imagine.

  12. The crazy thing is, we’ve got the same prices in the Southwest now too (around £6 a pint in most places).

    I remember though just after lockdown, our local put the price up from ~£3.50 to £5, and the entire village boycotted them until they lowered it again. “We’re not paying London prices grrr” and things to that effect.

    Now it’s just normal to spend £50-100 for an evening at the pub with a couple mates

  13. Specifics are important here…. £5 pints of what?

    Pubs are not charging people what they do because they just want to. Dont blame the pubs for the rise in tax, rise in rents, electric bills, product costs, so on and so forth.
    When you buy a pint, you’re not just paying for what comes out of the keg plus their profit.

  14. Go down the road and the Spencer does pints for less than that

  15. I’m not even that old and I remember when Pints were less then £1 in London.

  17. OP listen up: as an independent bar owner in London these are the things that I wake up having nightmares about and then I have people, like yourself – asking why Guinness is prices so high.

    Rent and business rates: these are astronomically high, landlords want more because it’s London and business rates only ever go up – if you look carefully you’ll see places closing almost weekly in London. Insurance is also higher in London, which is a pain, all those things considered guess where the pub will have to make its money back? yeah it’s your pint.

    Staff wages: National minimum or London Living Wage – these keep going up … by .50p so i’ve been told now. .50p may not seem a lot – i can assure you it is across every member of staff. This works for the chain places but for the small guys like us, just more money to pay out. This also doesn’t cover PAYE and of course 28 days paid holiday per staff member and sick days and pension contributions and you’re probably going to know the answer … yeah it’s your pint that will have to cover the gap.

    Stock: Kegs, spirits, garnish, gas, glasses –
    company’s like The Drinks Club, Hills Prospect/LWC drinks – all of their prices have gone up due to changes into government taxation – from the glass bottle makers to the brewery everyone is being taxed more, which means the butterfly effect will eventually land on…? … you’ve guessed it, it’s your pint!!

    Utilities: Just like you at home having to pay more, we also have to pay more. Gas, electric and water … all of which we use in abundance. Cost of pints = up.

    Equipment: Now anyone working in hospitality will testify that – equipment used heavily every day has a tendency to break at the worst times … fridges, glass washes, coffee machines … and the repair men also cost a lot more now. I guess the price of pints will have to go up if you want that guinness you can take a picture of with the good schtick.

    License: Music License, TV License, Pavement License, Alcohol License, Premises License – all cost more money than it used too. I’ll assume you want to come to the pub that’s not closed down, so all of these have to be paid.

    Cleaning, Waste Collection, Pest Control – again all have to be paid for with inflation unless you want to have a pint with the lovely cockroach from the street – and even he’ll probably tell you – it’s hard out here.

    Heavy regulations in licensing hours, noise reductions also take their toll.

    So many instead of ‘being sick’ of pubs/bars putting their prices up, why not going out and support them in the hope that one day prices will drop and be at a more reasonable price – you make it sound like every landlord is just having their fill when i can very much testify that I work hard every day 7 days a week so in the end my staff get paid.

    Maybe – rather than complain, take a look into what it costs to run a bar.

  18. Putney isn’t exactly a cheap town to run a business in tho.

    I think The Dynamo suffers from the same problem the Arab Boy does: it’s treated as a local, not as a place to go out to. And it’s not in a place to get the “passing through” traffic.

    I worry this is an attempt to attract more people, without regard for the financial sustainability of it.

  19. Laughs in north east England. ( I did my London time and paid my expensive pint dues)

  20. It’s a nice fantasy, but the reality is that those overheads are brutally real for most places. Still, the core idea of focusing on volume over insane margins is a solid one. A truly fair price would definitely win a ton of loyal customers. I’d be a regular in a heartbeat if I saw that kind of transparency and value.

  23. And if they don’t get more customers, then what? They close down with debts. Studies have shown fewer people are going out drinking, and it’s not all down to the price. More of the youth of today simply aren’t bothered about drinking

  24. Website says a different price, 2/3 of a pint for £5

  25. I need an beer inflation calculator as £5 still seems to high compared to 2019.

  27. When I was a young lad I could get a pint of bitter for 95p and a game of pool was only 10p. Those fancy lagers were about £1.20, so might have couple of them and then picking up fish and chips on the way home only cost about £2.80.

  28. I had the good fortunate of discovering a £5 pint place near my work in London.

    We went once, and discovered just how they managed to keep the prices so low. The pints were rank, and these were standing brands of pints. Presumably they’re skimping on cleaning, and who knows what else.

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