Real Ale Prices

basil6345789 · Post by **basil6345789** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 10:43 am

The price of real ale has been going up.
This is ridiculous
Can't blame it on Brexit as loads of hops grown in UK - just profiteering by fat cat barstewards
Pubs should bring down real ale prices and increase prices of pussy-drinks like lager, shots and proseco
It's enough to drive you to drink

South West Claret. · Post by **South West Claret.** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 10:49 am

In some Pubs and in some places the prices are way over the top, the only way is to boycott said pubs if you can.

Dyched · Post by **Dyched** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 10:58 am

Im a right in thinking it goes off quicker than your normal largers and such? If the pubs dont shift enough of it they'll stick the prices up to cover their costs and justify putting the stuff on.

hampsteadclaret · Post by **hampsteadclaret** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 10:59 am

A pint of London Pride in a Fullers pub in St Alban's at the weekend = £3.80p

A pint of London Pride in the Lamb and Flag, Covent Garden last Thursday = £4.50p

At one point we had a whip- round, £10 in, six of us..which just about covered two rounds - good job we were mostly drinking beer, had we been buying cider/lager the £60 would not have covered two rounds..

- when I was a lad back then, drinking in the Hop on a Friday night, I could get 6 pints of Whitbread Trophy for £1..

bedfords · Post by **bedfords** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:00 am

Think it's been going off at the same speed for the last few hundred years.

basil6345789 · Post by **basil6345789** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:01 am

There should be some sort of public inquiry/government investigation - wonder if we can get Nige on it - he likes the odd pint? Mind you, he'd probably want to bring back fags too, don't want that though.
Some years ago The Frog Party was about, they had a manifesto which included being nice to frogs and having real ale on The Rates (C Tax). Can't remember the rest but those two are more than sufficient.

hampsteadclaret · Post by **hampsteadclaret** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:02 am

Dyched...apparently you've got to get rid of a cask in about 3/4 days or the quality begins to disappear..

basil6345789 · Post by **basil6345789** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:04 am

hampstead - told you before - that's what you get for living down there in The Axis of Evil. Thought you were coming back up here?

basil6345789 · Post by **basil6345789** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:05 am

Ps - Also - the technical qualities/life expectancies haven't changed in centuries. The darker/stronger ones last longest.

MACCA · Post by **MACCA** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:06 am

Depends on where and at what time you drink. Lots of places around Burnley offering a pint around £2, some places even less!

£2.25 a pint in New Brew-m no matter what you get or what time. Match days even have free nibbles and kids drinks.

Think ( and don't quote me ) that 25p of every pint of pendleside ale sold goes to the pendleside hospice!

Drinking, at a reasonable price, and helping out a worthy local charity too, what's not to like!

bedfords · Post by **bedfords** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:08 am

Maybe the camra boys can campaign now because it's too popular. Even the trendies have nicked their beards.

Quickenthetempo · Post by **Quickenthetempo** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:15 am

It's a lot cheaper than the other drinks so is always more likely to rise.

hampsteadclaret · Post by **hampsteadclaret** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:21 am

I did hear a couple of negative stories about CAMRA recently, but to be fair they have done a fantastic job in promoting Real Ale in the 1970's and since
then..they took on the [then] Big Six breweries and beat them...pretty much every UK brewery offers real ale now, and the growth of micro-breweries and micro-pubs has been impressive.

- this is where the first branch meeting of Camra took place in 1972..

https://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/the-farriers-arms-st-albans" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

duncandisorderly · Post by **duncandisorderly** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:23 am

£1.79 tonight in Colne.

hampsteadclaret · Post by **hampsteadclaret** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:24 am

- where's that bus timetable?

basil6345789 · Post by **basil6345789** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:29 am

"Maybe the camra boys can campaign now because it's too popular. Even the trendies have nicked their beards"

Aye - "trendies" - 'kin dicks - why don't they get back to their Irish Cider (made with Dutch and Flemish apple pulp) and chep spumante?

Funkydrummer · Post by **Funkydrummer** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:39 am

"- when I was a lad back then, drinking in the Hop on a Friday night, I could get 6 pints of Whitbread Trophy for £1.."

That's still a lot of money for p!ss !

quoonbeatz · Post by **quoonbeatz** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:53 am

CAMRA with a massively worthwhile campaign here...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... rch-budget" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

going to make a huge difference that.

nonayclaret · Post by **nonayclaret** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 12:01 pm

Yes, when beer was 15p a pint in the 70s, a penny off was useful; but now the range of prices for the same stuff in the same town can vary by more than 50p!

Inchy · Post by **Inchy** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 12:26 pm

The price is going up massively because drinking ale has become 'cool'.

In Leeds centre you are looking at £4 a pint in most of the bars, with the exception of Wetherspoons.

In Burnley however you can still get a pint for £2 in a few places.

jlup1980 · Post by **jlup1980** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 12:27 pm

I was out in Sowerby Bridge on Friday night and the prices down there weren't too bad. I got more than £4 change from a tenner for two pints on more than one occasion. If you're in the area the Hogs Head is worth a visit.

BarstewardsEnquiry · Post by **BarstewardsEnquiry** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 12:32 pm

No sympathy Hampstead. London Pride is akin to a witches p1ss

basil6345789 · Post by **basil6345789** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 12:34 pm

If you take out of the equation the bars catering for pricks with Abraham Lincoln beards and sloping-back head haircuts and the rip-off town centre places, you're left with Local Pubs and they are at the mercy of the suppliers, who are swimming in the same po as the former lot, so the Locals have to either absorb the costs themselves, which depends on 't business position, or pass-on the increase to the Customer, which is the norm.
**** it, I'm going out for a pint.

Shipandpilotdevon · Post by **Shipandpilotdevon** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 2:41 pm

I run a pub in ilfracombe north Devon, all our ale is priced at £3 a pint running 6 different ales at a time. What people need to understand now is wages start at £7.50 an hour we open for 14 hours a day, I work 60 hours a week on the bar but I'm still left with a large wage bill. Rent is £2500 a month gas and electric £1000 a month, Sky £650 a month and then anything that's needs fixing costs a fortune nowadays. But done right like we try to you can earn a good living. But I agree that a lot of places are just screwing there customers over.

South West Claret. · Post by **South West Claret.** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 3:15 pm

Very interesting SAPD, as a matter of interest do you find that paying for sky is well worth the cost?

Shipandpilotdevon · Post by **Shipandpilotdevon** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 3:32 pm

For us in here it's a small pub but I have an 80inch tv, 60 inch, 50 inch tv and a 42 inch running from 3 sky boxes show we can show 3 channels at once, for us a wet only pub it does pay, but other pubs locally have taken it out as is not worth it for them.

South West Claret. · Post by **South West Claret.** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 3:40 pm

Thanks it's not cheap is it, same happened in Chudleigh a few years back and no doubt other pubs that don't attract enough foot fall.

Quickenthetempo · Post by **Quickenthetempo** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 4:13 pm

It's easy to change suppliers to keep it affordable.

For instance Moorhouses are dearer than Worsthorne. There's hundreds of small breweries around here that keep it very affordable.

bedfords · Post by **bedfords** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 4:55 pm

Do you know how a pub works?

Shipandpilotdevon · Post by **Shipandpilotdevon** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 5:17 pm

Luckily I run a free house but for many landlords they are tied to breweries or pub company's which tell you what you are paying and a lot of these pub have to pay up to double the amount I do for there beer.

Indecisive · Post by **Indecisive** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 5:31 pm

The price that some people on here would like/expect their beer for will be less than what some tied houses are buying it in for.

People's view of what is a fair price for alcohol is skewed by supermarkets being able to sell booze at such low prices (often loss leading deals to get people through the door).

morpheus2 · Post by **morpheus2** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 5:34 pm

Quickenthetempo · Post by **Quickenthetempo** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 6:22 pm

bedfords wrote:Do you know how a pub works?

If that's aimed at me I have quite a bit of knowledge on the subject

arise_sir_charge · Post by **arise_sir_charge** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 7:06 pm

Real ale prices can vary based on the brewery that supplies but this is not necessarily the fault of the brewery.

As an example, Worsthorne mentioned above is cheaper than Moorhouses but the big difference is that the size of output at a brewery dictates that some pay duty on every barrel and others don't. Moorhouses have to pay where as Worsthorne don't.

Don't worry though, I'm sure the government will realise that micro brewerys are booming and take their cut soon enough!

CnBtruntru · Post by **CnBtruntru** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 7:21 pm

My first pint in the 70's cost me 11p

over here in ROI prices are around €3.75 Guinness and €4.00 Lager not much else barring cider at €5.50 - 5.75 a pint bottle. Good job I rarely drink nowadays.

Garnerssoap · Post by **Garnerssoap** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:05 pm

Scrap duty on draught in pubs. If we started a political party with that on the manifesto who'd vote for it.

It's a scandal that the pub as the last bastion of the free thinking Englishman is systematically being ground into the dust.

That said I cannot excuse being charged £6.65 for a half bottle of liefmans kriek beer at Manchester Victoria's 'real ale house' on the way to Leicester last Tuesday

ten bellies · Post by **ten bellies** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:18 pm

£4.20 Dark Star in the Bree Louise.

hampsteadclaret · Post by **hampsteadclaret** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:31 pm

22 - no sympathy required.. but I am a bit worried about your familiarity with witches p1ss.

8 - yes that is true..sometime in the next six months, when everything is sorted out/finalised.

17..funkydrummer..'That's still a lot of money for p!ss !'

Of course I agree..the existence of Trophy and Watney's Red Barrel [Jesus] and Brew Ten and all that other shytte back then, was exactly what gave Camra it's early impetus..well done to them.

bedfords · Post by **bedfords** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:35 pm

Quickenthetempo wrote:If that's aimed at me I have quite a bit of knowledge on the subject

And you think a pub can just source beer from other brewers?

Quickenthetempo · Post by **Quickenthetempo** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:52 pm

bedfords wrote:And you think a pub can just source beer from other brewers?

The pubs/clubs I have been involved in yeah. I suppose it's too big an industry to cover all but a lot of pubs put guest ales on.

The ones I am on about are tied into Lagers with a brewery and can put whatever ales on they like.

karatekid · Post by **karatekid** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 9:12 pm

Had a decent pint of ' Sneck Lifter' in wetherspoons on manchester road before the bristol game and it was only 2 quid odd. In fact I think most of the ales were under £3 a pint.

Herts Clarets · Post by **Herts Clarets** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 9:47 pm

Love Sneck Lifter but never found it on draught.

longsidetrumpet · Post by **longsidetrumpet** » Mon Feb 06, 2017 10:22 pm

Indeed some pubs take the p'*ss on pricing, but a pint of good draught ale in a decent pub is one of the joys of life, and the social side of it beats social media hands down.

claretabroad · Post by **claretabroad** » Tue Feb 07, 2017 11:50 am

I make beer and the cost of raw ingredients has been steadily rising. Breweries have to do this on an industrial scale and when the 'grain bill' goes up, then so does the cost per pint.

Another factor to consider is the rising cost of hops in a market that has decided to go mental for them. The trend in real ale right now is to put ridiculous amounts of new varieties of hops into the beer. These aren't cheap and again drives the unit cost up.

A growing trend in America is cask aging in weird and wonderful casks (tequila, calvados, cherry brandy etc) and I'm sure it won't be long before that takes hold here. Expect the cost of the cask and its associated storage fees to be added to the cost of your pint when it does.

Spike · Post by **Spike** » Tue Feb 07, 2017 1:29 pm

Funkydrummer wrote:"- when I was a lad back then, drinking in the Hop on a Friday night, I could get 6 pints of Whitbread Trophy for £1.."

That's still a lot of money for p!ss !

Wasn't the beer in the hop Scottish + Newcastle therefore Tartan bitter?

hampsteadclaret · Post by **hampsteadclaret** » Tue Feb 07, 2017 2:22 pm

It was definitely Whitbread's Spike..

I believe you are thinking of the Broadsword's in the Market Square on the balcony..
- that was swill I guess as well, tho' at the time it did the job.

aggi · Post by **aggi** » Tue Feb 07, 2017 2:25 pm

ten bellies wrote:£4.20 Dark Star in the Bree Louise.

50p off with your CAMRA card

ten bellies · Post by **ten bellies** » Tue Feb 07, 2017 3:11 pm

aggi wrote:50p off with your CAMRA card

I'm going to have to become a member!

longsidetrumpet · Post by **longsidetrumpet** » Tue Feb 07, 2017 5:19 pm

hampsteadclaret wrote:It was definitely Whitbread's Spike..

I believe you are thinking of the Broadsword's in the Market Square on the balcony..
- that was swill I guess as well, tho' at the time it did the job.

Yes definitely Whitbread - they sold a darker bitter called Gauntlet from a pump with a massive, hideous gauntlet atop it

CleggHall · Post by **CleggHall** » Tue Feb 07, 2017 7:29 pm

Whitbread Trophy was a marketing term and the ale sold under this label differed depending where you were in the country. In Kent in the 1970s it was basically Fremlins bitter and quite drinkable whilst up north it was Duttons, a less palatable drink.
At least that was the line told to me by a Whitbread manager.