why pay £7 a pint in London when you could just about get a tub of Lurpak for that? I know what I’d rather choose.
I think for many people they had been and gone years ago, now the aging population just means that those who were used to the concept are retiring.
This isn’t just cost of living though. Many people aren’t in the office that much and even if you are in the office, many colleagues won’t be. It is hard to get a group together to grab a drink after work.
The amount of alcohol consumed by younger age groups v older groups is lower and therefore there is less interest for younger colleagues to join work colleages for drinks.
Pints were getting too expensive long before the current crisis. If you have decent parks nearby, why not just grab some tinnies and enjoy the sun.
The last thing I want to do after work, is spend more time with the people I work with.
It’s significantly cheaper to buy drink at the supermarket. Drink it wherever you want and significantly less chance of some dickhead wanting to play the hardman.
While I’m sure it has had an impact, pubs have been closing all over the place for the last decade or so, but there’s also wine bars you can go to, I suppose, even though they’re more expensive and doesn’t have the same “vibe” as the post-work drinks in the pub.
There was also the pandemic meaning people couldn’t go out after, the rise in remote working makes spontaneous drinks harder to do too.
Also, more people are going to the gym straight after work, jogging or cycling home as part of their exercise routine. I saw an article a few years ago which claimed young people are more health conscious now, which meant casual, and binge drinking wasn’t high on the agenda.
I do a lot of office temp work and you very rarely see or hear people talking about “a few bevys after work” anymore.
Perhaps if we all got paid better and worked a little less we’d have time for leisure and luxury.
Stagnant wages means people have to work longer. Working longer leaves less time for the pub.
– 1 pint = £6.50
– 4 pint sized cans of beer from shop = £6.79
Just feels like daylight robbery. Shame because you do get social vibes / social connection from being in a pub imo (everyone doing the same thing, hanging out with friends).
Just too expensive.
In my work we have friday evening paddleboard/wild swims and then a couple beers by the river afterwards, or people just come for a drink and to watch. Obviously its just a massive coincidence that a number of people in work like that sort of thing.
Amusingly the photo they’ve used for this article is The Wakey Tavern, which is right next door to a large and very popular Wetherspoons. I can easily imagine that Wetherspoons being next door had a bigger impact on their business than inflation.
This died out decades ago due to several factors:
1. People don’t have jobs for life.
2. People commute greater distances.
3. Drink driving laws and it no longer being socially acceptable.
4. More working from home.
5. Less free time.
6. Pub prices.
7. Matrix organisations. I work with lots of different people on specific tasks/projects. I have no clear “colleagues”.
It’s not just about the money, it’s peoples attitude to drinking and how unsocial a lot of people are these days. Because if you want a drink it’s not that expensive. A pint of IPA in Witherspoons is like 2 quid!
What are the good-old-boys gang gonna do now? HOW will they get that much-deserved promotion? /s
I work in a company supplying hospitality businesses and our sales have halved after a short period of soaring sales after restrictions ended. It really is getting dark out there.
I get annoyed even buying coke at the pub. Our mortgages and rent are way too high to be paying these prices, the older generation can only keep them alive for so long.
That and we’re fucking knackered most of the time. As a zero hour contract waiter, after work drinks does not exist for me unless I have the evening off. Even then, for what Spoons charges and admittly, i view spoons as reasonably priced, I can get a few bottles from a supermarket.
​
That and most people just want to get home, relax or sleep. Hospitality, factory, medical, emergecy service, any shift based job doesn’t really allow for much after work drinks because well, you’ll be fucking knackered if it’s really busy.
Has slowly been returning to normal, pub-wise, where I am. Big change was when people stopped working from home, a few months ago. Central London.
For 2 days a week in the office, travel costs for me would be around £350. Two days. Plus the travel time which is about 2 hours each way. Of course, the reason for the long commute is because I couldn’t afford to buy a decent sized house in London. The key word being “house”. I could just about purchase a shit 2 bed flat in a crap part of London with my wages and my wife’s.
So lumped with 8 hours travel over 2 days a week at a cost of £350. After work drinks don’t even factor because guess what… I want to see my kids.
We already pay an insane amount on childcare so we can both work. But in order to ensure our kids get a decent education, we got one into a reasonable day nursery, and the other into the one primary school we found that suited him. That’s a round trip of 8 miles, twice a day. So… with inflated petrol costs, again, work drinks don’t factor into it.
And it’s not because we don’t want drinks. (Though, admittedly, not necessarily with work colleagues.)
When will people realise, expectation and the costs to live up to that expectation have become too high. They want us to work, to spend, to have children, to pay taxes, to own property, to go on holidays… shit most of us want “most of” that too. But something has to give. Something has to change. It has to be societal. Until that happens, it will get worse and worse.
The place i work at in London was absolutely rammed last night… on a Tuesday. I went out to an area with at least 12 pubs of varying types a couple of miles away from where I work and I went into about 8 of them (very heavy night) and they were all packed, this was a Saturday however.
I think in terms of that £80 could be spent on something handy that would get multiple uses, so I only go out for a proper night out twice a month with the occasional couple in-between. A lot of people still don’t give a toss and their fun is had out and about with friends.
A lot of people have more than likely given up with the prospect of owning their own home and the likelyhood of never being able to retire so fuck saving (aside from a couple of months rainy day saving)
Most of this is pure speculation and a lot of people probably haven’t thought this far ahead… more speculation…
My point is to not fall into the doom and gloom media pit. All that stuff 10 years ago about 7 pubs closing every minute comes to mind, according to the media there shouldn’t even be anywhere left to have a drink.
As if I’d do that even if I could afford it
Getting a couple of rounds in is reaching cocaine prices.
Cost of drinking crisis, more like
Just drink AT WORK; Save time and money
The return of tea and two fackin’ slices.
Yup, missus is a barmaid. Had her hours slashed from about 50 to 20, one of the staff has a grand total of 4 hours. Not so good.
Would never go anyway. Spending an arseton of cash on pints to spend time with people you don’t want to be around while family waits at home, nah.
Cry me a river. As someone who drank a lot in my early 20s, now going to the pub feels like a stupid waste of money – you’ll see £100 evaporate when you could have just had your mate come over. If they want people settling in pubs like we used to, they need to drop the insane prices.
Or the fact everyone wfh on Fridays
I used to do drinks after work years ago, but it was one of the things that prevented me from working on my own business plus adding unnecessary spending and damage to health (obviously alcohol, but also ringing in ears from all the shouting).
Coming home from “just one pint” that turned three sometimes five, all I could do was to eat some poorly made meal and watch telly until falling asleep.
Absolute madness.
Zero progress in life, just work, pub, home, sleep. That turned into depression.
City centres are still busy on weekends though
After work drinks were largely killed already by covid and remote working.
The only companies I know that have a thriving social culture are the ones that take steps to promote it, e.g. by having a great office space that people actually want to work in and by subsidising after work social events.
Unfortunately the only companies I know which promote good social cultures do so to distract from the uninspiring work and/or below average pay.
Sadly at most companies the boomers who run them would prefer the extra money to go into their pockets to pay off their second mortgages and third divorces.
City centre pubs are certainly struggling, but pubs in residential areas are extremely busy.
The “posh” bar near me charges £6.00 for a Peroni or Moretti. The micro pub near me charges £4.80 for an ABK. The Wetherspoons near me charges £3 for a Corona.
Of those three choices, I go the micro pub but it’s not as often as Id like – especially when my wife and I go as it’s still around £12 a round.
Seem to be in the minority of people who is able to get on with others and enjoy the occasional after work drink with them.
I feel like this is a very reddit thing to report, head absolutely anywhere in central london after 5/6pm and you’ll find the streets teeming with people
It’s cheaper to buy a bottle from the corner shop than a 400% price increase bottle from a club or bar.
Looks like the wealthy powers that be are realising that capitalism depends on consumerism…
Yeah it sucks to be more out of pocket for everyone but less drinking could do a whole lot of people a whole lot of good let’s be honest with ourselves. You know I’d be more engage with my empathy if this said death to lunch because now all most people can afford is 2 meals a day… which wouldn’t surprise me, but alcohol is a big problem for this country, a leading factor to declining mental health , physical health and a massive strain on the health services and ither public services. Obviously it’s a tricky one because we all need some kind of release living in this draconian society.
39 comments
You will have nothing
…and you will be happy!
why pay £7 a pint in London when you could just about get a tub of Lurpak for that? I know what I’d rather choose.
I think for many people they had been and gone years ago, now the aging population just means that those who were used to the concept are retiring.
This isn’t just cost of living though. Many people aren’t in the office that much and even if you are in the office, many colleagues won’t be. It is hard to get a group together to grab a drink after work.
The amount of alcohol consumed by younger age groups v older groups is lower and therefore there is less interest for younger colleagues to join work colleages for drinks.
Pints were getting too expensive long before the current crisis. If you have decent parks nearby, why not just grab some tinnies and enjoy the sun.
The last thing I want to do after work, is spend more time with the people I work with.
It’s significantly cheaper to buy drink at the supermarket. Drink it wherever you want and significantly less chance of some dickhead wanting to play the hardman.
While I’m sure it has had an impact, pubs have been closing all over the place for the last decade or so, but there’s also wine bars you can go to, I suppose, even though they’re more expensive and doesn’t have the same “vibe” as the post-work drinks in the pub.
There was also the pandemic meaning people couldn’t go out after, the rise in remote working makes spontaneous drinks harder to do too.
Also, more people are going to the gym straight after work, jogging or cycling home as part of their exercise routine. I saw an article a few years ago which claimed young people are more health conscious now, which meant casual, and binge drinking wasn’t high on the agenda.
I do a lot of office temp work and you very rarely see or hear people talking about “a few bevys after work” anymore.
Perhaps if we all got paid better and worked a little less we’d have time for leisure and luxury.
Stagnant wages means people have to work longer. Working longer leaves less time for the pub.
– 1 pint = £6.50
– 4 pint sized cans of beer from shop = £6.79
Just feels like daylight robbery. Shame because you do get social vibes / social connection from being in a pub imo (everyone doing the same thing, hanging out with friends).
Just too expensive.
In my work we have friday evening paddleboard/wild swims and then a couple beers by the river afterwards, or people just come for a drink and to watch. Obviously its just a massive coincidence that a number of people in work like that sort of thing.
Amusingly the photo they’ve used for this article is The Wakey Tavern, which is right next door to a large and very popular Wetherspoons. I can easily imagine that Wetherspoons being next door had a bigger impact on their business than inflation.
This died out decades ago due to several factors:
1. People don’t have jobs for life.
2. People commute greater distances.
3. Drink driving laws and it no longer being socially acceptable.
4. More working from home.
5. Less free time.
6. Pub prices.
7. Matrix organisations. I work with lots of different people on specific tasks/projects. I have no clear “colleagues”.
It’s not just about the money, it’s peoples attitude to drinking and how unsocial a lot of people are these days. Because if you want a drink it’s not that expensive. A pint of IPA in Witherspoons is like 2 quid!
What are the good-old-boys gang gonna do now? HOW will they get that much-deserved promotion? /s
I work in a company supplying hospitality businesses and our sales have halved after a short period of soaring sales after restrictions ended. It really is getting dark out there.
I get annoyed even buying coke at the pub. Our mortgages and rent are way too high to be paying these prices, the older generation can only keep them alive for so long.
That and we’re fucking knackered most of the time. As a zero hour contract waiter, after work drinks does not exist for me unless I have the evening off. Even then, for what Spoons charges and admittly, i view spoons as reasonably priced, I can get a few bottles from a supermarket.
​
That and most people just want to get home, relax or sleep. Hospitality, factory, medical, emergecy service, any shift based job doesn’t really allow for much after work drinks because well, you’ll be fucking knackered if it’s really busy.
Has slowly been returning to normal, pub-wise, where I am. Big change was when people stopped working from home, a few months ago. Central London.
For 2 days a week in the office, travel costs for me would be around £350. Two days. Plus the travel time which is about 2 hours each way. Of course, the reason for the long commute is because I couldn’t afford to buy a decent sized house in London. The key word being “house”. I could just about purchase a shit 2 bed flat in a crap part of London with my wages and my wife’s.
So lumped with 8 hours travel over 2 days a week at a cost of £350. After work drinks don’t even factor because guess what… I want to see my kids.
We already pay an insane amount on childcare so we can both work. But in order to ensure our kids get a decent education, we got one into a reasonable day nursery, and the other into the one primary school we found that suited him. That’s a round trip of 8 miles, twice a day. So… with inflated petrol costs, again, work drinks don’t factor into it.
And it’s not because we don’t want drinks. (Though, admittedly, not necessarily with work colleagues.)
When will people realise, expectation and the costs to live up to that expectation have become too high. They want us to work, to spend, to have children, to pay taxes, to own property, to go on holidays… shit most of us want “most of” that too. But something has to give. Something has to change. It has to be societal. Until that happens, it will get worse and worse.
The place i work at in London was absolutely rammed last night… on a Tuesday. I went out to an area with at least 12 pubs of varying types a couple of miles away from where I work and I went into about 8 of them (very heavy night) and they were all packed, this was a Saturday however.
I think in terms of that £80 could be spent on something handy that would get multiple uses, so I only go out for a proper night out twice a month with the occasional couple in-between. A lot of people still don’t give a toss and their fun is had out and about with friends.
A lot of people have more than likely given up with the prospect of owning their own home and the likelyhood of never being able to retire so fuck saving (aside from a couple of months rainy day saving)
Most of this is pure speculation and a lot of people probably haven’t thought this far ahead… more speculation…
My point is to not fall into the doom and gloom media pit. All that stuff 10 years ago about 7 pubs closing every minute comes to mind, according to the media there shouldn’t even be anywhere left to have a drink.
As if I’d do that even if I could afford it
Getting a couple of rounds in is reaching cocaine prices.
Cost of drinking crisis, more like
Just drink AT WORK; Save time and money
The return of tea and two fackin’ slices.
Yup, missus is a barmaid. Had her hours slashed from about 50 to 20, one of the staff has a grand total of 4 hours. Not so good.
Would never go anyway. Spending an arseton of cash on pints to spend time with people you don’t want to be around while family waits at home, nah.
Cry me a river. As someone who drank a lot in my early 20s, now going to the pub feels like a stupid waste of money – you’ll see £100 evaporate when you could have just had your mate come over. If they want people settling in pubs like we used to, they need to drop the insane prices.
Or the fact everyone wfh on Fridays
I used to do drinks after work years ago, but it was one of the things that prevented me from working on my own business plus adding unnecessary spending and damage to health (obviously alcohol, but also ringing in ears from all the shouting).
Coming home from “just one pint” that turned three sometimes five, all I could do was to eat some poorly made meal and watch telly until falling asleep.
Absolute madness.
Zero progress in life, just work, pub, home, sleep. That turned into depression.
City centres are still busy on weekends though
After work drinks were largely killed already by covid and remote working.
The only companies I know that have a thriving social culture are the ones that take steps to promote it, e.g. by having a great office space that people actually want to work in and by subsidising after work social events.
Unfortunately the only companies I know which promote good social cultures do so to distract from the uninspiring work and/or below average pay.
Sadly at most companies the boomers who run them would prefer the extra money to go into their pockets to pay off their second mortgages and third divorces.
City centre pubs are certainly struggling, but pubs in residential areas are extremely busy.
The “posh” bar near me charges £6.00 for a Peroni or Moretti. The micro pub near me charges £4.80 for an ABK. The Wetherspoons near me charges £3 for a Corona.
Of those three choices, I go the micro pub but it’s not as often as Id like – especially when my wife and I go as it’s still around £12 a round.
Seem to be in the minority of people who is able to get on with others and enjoy the occasional after work drink with them.
I feel like this is a very reddit thing to report, head absolutely anywhere in central london after 5/6pm and you’ll find the streets teeming with people
It’s cheaper to buy a bottle from the corner shop than a 400% price increase bottle from a club or bar.
Looks like the wealthy powers that be are realising that capitalism depends on consumerism…
Yeah it sucks to be more out of pocket for everyone but less drinking could do a whole lot of people a whole lot of good let’s be honest with ourselves. You know I’d be more engage with my empathy if this said death to lunch because now all most people can afford is 2 meals a day… which wouldn’t surprise me, but alcohol is a big problem for this country, a leading factor to declining mental health , physical health and a massive strain on the health services and ither public services. Obviously it’s a tricky one because we all need some kind of release living in this draconian society.