The recent increase in duty and VAT has caused howls of anguish in many circles and predictions of meltdown in the on trade. True it means that beer will be in for a steeper increase than any time in its history and that is regrettable, but how much is a pint anyway?In the bad or good old days (depending on how rose tinted your glasses are) we knew more or less how much a pint would cost in our own manor. Pubs were mostly owned by breweries amd they to a large extent dictated how prices were levied. You knew roughly what was what. In the North of England Whitbread would be most expensive, then Bass, then Allied, then your local brewery and all were within pennies of each other. This hasn't been the case for years though and the variation in price, pub to pub, which is now the norm, doesn't on the whole stop people drinking in pubs. Other things might though, but the price charged to those dedicated to pub going is always these days a somewhat variable one.
Before the rise, my local charged £2.35 for a pint of any cask beer, whether mild, bitter or guest. The price varies by a few pence up or down in other in Lees pubs and of course elsewhere. In JDW it is likely to be still under £2.00 a pint in this neck of the woods and of course a trip to Manchester will see you paying anything from a couple of quid to £3 plus. The same picture I'm sure affects the whole country and of course, in London and the South East, the £3 pint has been common for quite some time. If there is a psychological barrier, it certainly isn't set at the £3 mark.
In effect nobody knows the price of a pint, as no such generality exists any more and people are therefore unlikely to make their pub going decisions on the premise that the cost increase now makes it too much. If you asked them how much a pint is, they couldn't really say.
As always the answer to pub going or lack thereof isn't solely price, but to paraphrase Bill Clinton "It's the offer Stupid". That's a truth that will never change and one that is becoming more and more important now.
While clearly price isn't everything, there's still a lot of price-consciousness about amongst pubgoers, as witness the success of JDW and many Sam Smith's pubs.
ReplyDeleteOoh £2.35 is very reasonable,there's nowhere round here other than 'spoons where you can find a pint of cask ale at that price.We did a litlle sortie round some local pubs last Monday,in the interests of research,prior to putting our own prices up and found cask ale ranging from £2.90 to £3.10..
ReplyDeleteThe worst pricing we found was £3.10 for a pint of John Smiths..
A friend of mine noted that one newspaper was complaining that a pint of lager was going to be over £3 in London due to the increases. The journalist must not drink in London otherwise they would have known it's been that way for a long time.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to note that JW Lees prices are very reasonable, (as ever!) & that "London" prices are expensive.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I have noticed the The Rake, in Southwark "a popular free house amongst the tickers", is doing cellar runs of Lees Harvest Ale 11% for a mere £6.00 a half!
A brewery has no control over what price its beers are sold for in the Free Trade, I knoe, but I wonder what Peter's views are on this, obviously knowing him well& his connections with Lees.
A half pint of wine in a pub would cost you £5 or £6. Why would you not expect to pay the same for a beer that's as strong as much wine?
ReplyDeleteMartyn - Because Duty on beer is £17.32 for every 1% of strength per 100 litres. Wine £225.00 per 100 litres?
ReplyDeleteSource. Wine and Spirit Trade Assoc.
£6 a half seems a LOT for Harvest Ale, but if people are daft enough to pay it.....
You'd get £864 income from a nine if you sold all 72 pints. Cost? Maybe £160 at the top. There is indeed one born every minute.
Missed this post earlier, Tandleman. Unfortunately the £3 pint has been very much the norm around here for some time, and with the recent price increases £3.50 + is not unusual in some establishments!
ReplyDelete