The £5 pint

Curb_It · May 4

Bit judgy that comment. I love going out to decent pubs.

I don’t understand how you can get a pint for 2.40 or have heard of any offers on apps from breweries. A pub giving away free champagne? Please share the name of this magical place.

clb74 · May 4

Curb_It said:

Bit judgy that comment. I love going out to decent pubs.

I don’t understand how you can get a pint for 2.40 or have heard of any offers on apps from breweries. A pub giving away free champagne? Please share the name of this magical place.

George in Hayes is one of the pubs.
Current vouchers i have for there.
£10off £50 spend.
£25 off a £25 spend
And a free bottle of luxury wine.
This bank holiday they were doing bogof on madri.
1 each app member.
I buy giftcards when I can at discounted rate.
The wife had the moet , I had the 4 madris.

Covered End · May 4

clb74 said:

Curb_It said:

Bit judgy that comment. I love going out to decent pubs.

I don’t understand how you can get a pint for 2.40 or have heard of any offers on apps from breweries. A pub giving away free champagne? Please share the name of this magical place.

George in Hayes is one of the pubs.
Current vouchers i have for there.
£10off £50 spend.
£25 off a £25 spend
And a free bottle of luxury wine.
This bank holiday they were doing bogof on madri.
1 each app member.
I buy giftcards when I can at discounted rate.
The wife had the moet , I had the 4 madris.

Who had the 6 Guinness?

It reads like in order to get half price drinks you needed to drink 10 pints and a bottle of champagne?

ElfsborgAddick · May 4

clb74 said:

ElfsborgAddick said:

cafc_se7 said:

Curb_It said:

17 quid in Captain Kidd in Wapping earlier for two pints. And their beer is shit!

God it’s expensive to go out on the piss in London.

Something has to got to give

Sadly, more pubs will close as people will drink more at home. If you went out with your partner and had 5 or six drinks with something to eat the cost could easily sail past £100.

Me and the wife were out in Hayes and west wickham yesterday.
Bottle of Moet , 4 pints madri and 6 pints of Guinness £31

What did you have to eat?

Chippycafc · May 4

clb74 said:

ElfsborgAddick said:

cafc_se7 said:

Curb_It said:

17 quid in Captain Kidd in Wapping earlier for two pints. And their beer is shit!

God it’s expensive to go out on the piss in London.

Something has to got to give

Sadly, more pubs will close as people will drink more at home. If you went out with your partner and had 5 or six drinks with something to eat the cost could easily sail past £100.

Me and the wife were out in Hayes and west wickham yesterday.
Bottle of Moet , 4 pints madri and 6 pints of Guinness £31

If you went in the thameside at London Bridge a Nicholson pub. That would easily cost you £100.

Masterbrew · May 5

thickandthin63 said:

I would rather go without than pay these prices,Sweeps festival at Rochester,£7.50 pint £4.00 half,on top of £3.50 for the grand daughter for 5 minutes on the bouncy castle.

Stalls were selling at £5 a pint in the High Street, straight from the barrel; one was trying to clear Sunday evening at £3 a pint! You may have seen me there, celebrating my 70th birthday a few days before.

TootingRedArmy · May 5

Worlds gone mad ! Who seriously can afford these prices - I stopped drinking 7yrs ago but how can people afford £7-8 a pint or £10 according to The Telegraph for a night out in London

Where is the fun anymore? when everything it’s so bloody expensive, it’s only going one way pubs, restaurants will continue to go bust as people can’t afford to go out & will drink at home

swords_alive · May 5

James O'brien discussing pub decline now on LBC - asking if the decline is cyclical, or terminal. I think it's terminal- going the way of churches as James suggests.

I was very uncomfortable recently, attending an event at a pub (Stage Door) in Waterloo - made the mistake of reading the reviews and learning how expensive it is there. Anyway, learned later on that everyone was equally worried about the cost. One even had a bottle of gin in her bag which i think is a good way to go but doesn't help struggling pubs. The rounds were fragmented, which suited me, but i hate sitting there wondering what i can afford.

Radostanradical · May 5

Without sounding too out of touch if you go to a pub in central london (I live in Dubai where its even more expensive) you would probably expect to spend £6/7 a pint. Thats still less than £30 for 4/5 pints, I may sound pious but if you cant afford to spend £30 on beer then you really should have other priorities than spending money on alcohol.

swords_alive · May 5

Radostanradical said:

Without sounding too out of touch if you go to a pub in central london (I live in Dubai where its even more expensive) you would probably expect to spend £6/7 a pint. Thats still less than £30 for 4/5 pints, I may sound pious but if you cant afford to spend £30 on beer then you really should have other priorities than spending money on alcohol.

But that's the downgrade isn't it and decline not just for pubs but a chunk of social living. There'll be some it doesn't touch, who won't worry and carry on spending but on the margins long term change is probably underway.

And btw, if you're part if a social group and the group decision is to meet at a pub, one either goes along with it or has to fall out of the group and go do something else. That can be a tough decision.

Leeds_Addick · May 5

Radostanradical said:

Without sounding too out of touch if you go to a pub in central london (I live in Dubai where its even more expensive) you would probably expect to spend £6/7 a pint. Thats still less than £30 for 4/5 pints, I may sound pious but if you cant afford to spend £30 on beer then you really should have other priorities than spending money on alcohol.

And £30 in 2026 is equivalent to £21 in 2013 (when this thread was started) which is around £5 for 4 or 5 pints.

I think pubs are expensive but only because everything has gone up relative to wages.

AFKABartram · May 5

Fairly standard now going out in a group that rounds are £50+, and that’s locally not London

Darty Valiant · May 5

£4 a pint at Dartford Working Mens Club. About 8 real ales, Craft Beers etc.

MrOneLung · May 5

AFKABartram said:

Fairly standard now going out in a group that rounds are £50+, and that’s locally not London

Tend to just get my own or get into a smaller round of two or three these days.

clb74 · May 5

Chippycafc said:

clb74 said:

ElfsborgAddick said:

cafc_se7 said:

Curb_It said:

17 quid in Captain Kidd in Wapping earlier for two pints. And their beer is shit!

God it’s expensive to go out on the piss in London.

Something has to got to give

Sadly, more pubs will close as people will drink more at home. If you went out with your partner and had 5 or six drinks with something to eat the cost could easily sail past £100.

Me and the wife were out in Hayes and west wickham yesterday.
Bottle of Moet , 4 pints madri and 6 pints of Guinness £31

If you went in the thameside at London Bridge a Nicholson pub. That would easily cost you £100.

Nicholsons.
Another firm with a loyalty app.
Wife currently has a £30 off a £30 spend.
She's been signed up to them for a month and already had 2 free drinks off them

Radostanradical · May 5

swords_alive said:

Radostanradical said:

Without sounding too out of touch if you go to a pub in central london (I live in Dubai where its even more expensive) you would probably expect to spend £6/7 a pint. Thats still less than £30 for 4/5 pints, I may sound pious but if you cant afford to spend £30 on beer then you really should have other priorities than spending money on alcohol.

But that's the downgrade isn't it and decline not just for pubs but a chunk of social living. There'll be some it doesn't touch, who won't worry and carry on spending but on the margins long term change is probably underway.

And btw, if you're part if a social group and the group decision is to meet at a pub, one either goes along with it or has to fall out of the group and go do something else. That can be a tough decision.

You make some good points re the lost of social living, I remember being a kid in 90s in welling and pubs always seemed full and busy, now im not sure I could count all the lost pubs in welling (let alone Bexley) on both hands.

If it makes anyone feel better in just paid around £11 for a pint of brewdog in Dubai to watch the football.

Alwaysneil · May 5

Say hi to our former owners from us when you catch up with them.

sam3110 · May 5

Try working in cocktail bars, when we go out together and get rounds, we typically go to other cocktail bars, the other day a group of 6 of us were on a £96 round! (Average of £16 a cocktail)

One poor lad, pretty new to the team, decided to get 6 shots on top, his round was £150!

ElfsborgAddick · May 6

Radostanradical said:

swords_alive said:

Radostanradical said:

Without sounding too out of touch if you go to a pub in central london (I live in Dubai where its even more expensive) you would probably expect to spend £6/7 a pint. Thats still less than £30 for 4/5 pints, I may sound pious but if you cant afford to spend £30 on beer then you really should have other priorities than spending money on alcohol.

But that's the downgrade isn't it and decline not just for pubs but a chunk of social living. There'll be some it doesn't touch, who won't worry and carry on spending but on the margins long term change is probably underway.

And btw, if you're part if a social group and the group decision is to meet at a pub, one either goes along with it or has to fall out of the group and go do something else. That can be a tough decision.

You make some good points re the lost of social living, I remember being a kid in 90s in welling and pubs always seemed full and busy, now im not sure I could count all the lost pubs in welling (let alone Bexley) on both hands.

If it makes anyone feel better in just paid around £11 for a pint of brewdog in Dubai to watch the football.

Only £4 in the Bromley South spoons

cafc4life · May 6

Paid £8.45 for a pint of Jubel near Liverpool Street on Saturday...

cantersaddick · May 6

swords_alive said:

James O'brien discussing pub decline now on LBC - asking if the decline is cyclical, or terminal. I think it's terminal- going the way of churches as James suggests.

I was very uncomfortable recently, attending an event at a pub (Stage Door) in Waterloo - made the mistake of reading the reviews and learning how expensive it is there. Anyway, learned later on that everyone was equally worried about the cost. One even had a bottle of gin in her bag which i think is a good way to go but doesn't help struggling pubs. The rounds were fragmented, which suited me, but i hate sitting there wondering what i can afford.

Agree its terminal unless something is done about it.

Personally I think the solution is a structural change to how we tax small businesses. Gone are the days when a pub was operated by a landlord who actually owned the land and building as well as the business. Now they are either chains or the "landlord" (quotations because its in name only) owns the business and rents the building. In the 2nd case the "landlord" is resonsible for paying the business rates as well as the rent. The owner of the land pays nothing. Shifting at least some of the bill from business rates to a Land value tax for commercial premesis where the land owner is responsible for the bill would make a big difference to the bottom line. It shifts the bill away from the business owner who generates value and onto the asset holder who extracts value.

swords_alive · May 6

Interesting proposal that @cantersaddick; especially the shift of business rates to the asset holder rather than the business. I think breaking down the 'value chain' like this is potentially helpful, to show where the costs lie and where the money is going. In the case of pubs there does seem to be a general presumption that the punter either takes the hit or goes elsewhere, (as with many commercially available products including football tickets and the weekly shop!).

I think there is a likelihood that in the example you give, any new cost to the building owner, such as rates, could simply be passed on to the business in rent charges. A government subsidy is an alternative, to cover those business rates and i see there's already rate relief in effect from 1st April 2026, but only to a limited extent (c.15% and other multiplier factors applied)- It's a relatively complex picture summarised here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10460/

Yet the Rose of Denmark for example has had what looks like a significant rate increase from April as can be seen here https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/business-rates-find/valuations/start/99427071

More impactful would perhaps be a permanent full subsidy by central government (like a permanent extension of previous covid-era subsidies), and/or a reduction in beer duty to ensure the costs reduction reaches the punter.

Karim_myBagheri · May 6

In today's metro. £11. Bloke actually believes Heineken
is the beer version of a big mac. More like a beer version of a filet o fish without the fish..

Miserableoldgit · May 6

£3~05 Fosters, £2~65 Speckled Hen, Red Lion in Sittingbourne. Craft Union pub.
Goes upto £3~25 at the weekends......

clb74 · May 7

One of the best yet.
5 pints £9.75

fenlandaddick · May 7

Nearing the £5 pint here in rural Lincolnshire. Making a point now of pint and pub lunch on a regular basis as they need the cash and I don't fancy missing out on a watering hole after a walk. All the pubs near me publican owned and free houses.

The £5 pint

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