Drinkers rage over 4% ‘service charge’ for buying pint at bar – and say ‘f*** right off’

27 comments

1. The bars are just speed running bankruptcy

   I would ask them to remove that 4%, if they can’t I would walk out the door

2. If I’m going out for drinks in London I expect to be ripped off anyway.

3. To me this feels even worse than restaurants, takeaways, etc. trying to sneak automatic service charges on. As the night goes on, people drinking alcohol are less and less likely to notice the sign or charge. Plus nobody’s asking for receipts for a pint to see it on there either. American tipping culture needs to stay overseas.

4. A bit of insight here, service charge goes to the staff not the business. It’s the way a lot of these places keep running; they can pay the staff minimum wage (which is still too high for them to really afford hence the crap service tou get at most places) and top it up with a forced service charge in order to try and attract better staff.

5. That article is funny.

   It has a couple of quotes where the customer interviewed is like an economist who goes into tax, percentage increases of a pint year on year and how unsustainable it is for working people.

   The other quotes are just “go fuck yourself”, “you can fuck right off” and “they’re taking the piss like American plums” type quotes.

   Brilliant stuff 😅😅

6. Do not go gentle into that table service

   Old men should queue and rave at last orders 

   Rage, rage against the service charge

7. I couldn’t be faffed with that. Any pub trying that on me is one I won’t be going back to. 

   Yes you can ask them to remove it but when it’s busy you sometimes can’t even hear the person behind the bar or even know the price of the pint until you see it on the card reader.

8. Anywhere adding hidden charges is going to stop getting repeat custom.

   You build the cost of business into the price of the product or service. If that is not a competitive price, you won’t get repeat customer.

   Which is why we end up with weatherspoons doing so well.

9. This has been creeping in for a while now. I’ve been in multiple pubs where the card machine asks for a tip. Safe to say that I select the skip option each and every time. Hopefully it is banned before long. The last thing we need is a ridiculous USA tipping culture.

10. We spoke to a bunch of beer guzzling pub-goers and they didn’t like that beer went up in price.

    ~News apparently

11. Let’s not import the appalling tipping culture from America

12. All optional charges like service charges should be opt in, not opt out.

13. This is the equivalent of service charge shop workers for scanning your items, that’s just absurd. Bar staff don’t provide service in the same way wait staff do, they just pour the drink

14. No no NO to the import of ridiculous American tipping culture.

    My God, what next? Air conditioning? NO THANK YOU.

15. Service charges are just tips you’re forced to pay. They’re introducing tipping culture without actually putting tipping culture at the forefront. Allowing them to make more money off the drink whilst giving the service charge to the workers.

16. Restaurants, cafes etc are legally required to include VAT in their advertised prices. They should be similarly legally required to add in fees such as this. Would solve the problem immediately.

    I don’t care about paying, I care about the dishonest, beggar-style “ah mate just another few pence”, it’s underhanded.

    The idea that it’s optional is farcical on the face of it. It’s like those “pay or give up privacy” banners on website, it defeats the point of the law. Why not just have seventeen different service charges and force people to individually refuse each one?

17. I said this in another sub, but the government should step in an ban service charges outside of a few specific scenarios, in the same way that the US sought to ban Junk Fees around concert ticket prices.

    It would be a popular policy and quite frankly, if your business cannot survive without guilt tripping your customers into not removing an optional charge, then maybe it’s not really a viable business.

18. At least table service actually has service.

    Paying a service charge for walking up to the bar and getting the drink is a joke.

19. Service charge in delivery apps is also a naive joke, those apps take a cut from the restaurant as well, so they’re double dipping

20. About as un-British as you can get. It’s a pub, not an American bar and a great way to lose customers to pubs who don’t do this. I would happily support any boycott of this sort of thing.

21. Its optional. Ask for it to be removed and enjoy your life

22. I see people moan all the time, but they still use these places.

    F these places, if they don’t want to show their staff respect by paying them a decent wage from the offset. Then why the F would I use my hard earnt money to support that kind of business.

    We should all avoid these places until they are forced to pay a decent wage and not try to make the public feel guilty for not giving a tip/service charge.

23. This is creeping into the UK.

    Our fave Indian place suddenly started an 18% service charge last year and argued about taking it off.

    It’s a pretty small place and I always tip anyway (around 10% and depending on service).

    Result, I now mainly get it home delivered and they make £60 less off me each order.

24. If you’re getting a service charge you should expect table service at the least.

25. Think local pubs for local people can confidently put prices up 4% nobody wants there local to close it’s 15-20p extra. If they want to do as a tip to avoid tax, to be fair I’d rather my pub has it than the government who are experts at wasting money.

    For big cities not interested and I’d avoid it as don’t care if they disappear be competitive or I’ll just find a spoons

26. If you aren’t tipping the bar staff to begin with you are an absolute c*nt.

27. I remember when someone tried to argue tipping is a way of showing thanks to server for bringing and ordering your food. I was the fuck are they being paid to do if I’m having to pay for that. I’ll go get it myself from the kitchen if that’s the case.

    And even if it is doesn’t make sense if I spend more i have to tip more??? Most of the time it’s just same amount of plates.

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