[Drinking] Pubs and surge pricing.

[Cowfold Seagull]

I am fast losing the will to live having read this thread.

 

[Normal Rob]

I am fast losing the will to live having read this thread.

I'll drink to that. But only at certain times (yet TBC)

 

[Coldeanseagull]

I'm still outraged a watneys mild went up to 20p a pint!
Another penny, I'm going to a charringtons

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

I'm still outraged a watneys mild went up to 20p a pint!
Another penny, I'm going to a charringtons

That takes me way back, a Watney's house called the Warwick Arms, around the back of Victoria Station was where l stated drinking regularly back in the 1970's, pints of Red Barrel, something l would never tgouch now!

Alas the Warwick Arms, of which l was so fond, has now been reincarnated as a gay pub called the Victoria Taps. Another memory gone up in flames.

 

[Cosmic Joker]

Berliner Republik beer stock exchange bar has taken this to the max Berliner Republik beer price index

How it works:
Beer stock Exchange

 

[Titanic]

It definitely comes over better if drinks are sold at a discount to the full price at quiet times - rather than calling it surge pricing.

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

For those baffled by yet another thread started by the OP with no context and a missing negative, this is the thing.

UK’s biggest pub group to charge 20p more a pint at busy times under surge pricing

Owner of Slug & Lettuce and Yates’s to raise prices at times such as weekends to help cover costs

www.theguardian.com

Tom Kerridge was interviewed about it on Today this morning and explained the '20p extra' is actually the real price when costs are taken into account - i.e. more staff needed at busier times. The rest of the time it's discounted so actually a happy hour.

The policy makes no sense to me, other than to try and cash in and make more money from your customer. In busier times, economy of scale means you generally can sell more per head of staff than at quieter times. TK acting like a politician imo and treating the general public as idiots.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

It definitely comes over better if drinks are sold at a discount to the full price at quiet times - rather than calling it surge pricing.

Yep it's all about the marketing.

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

Aren't pubs legally obliged to display their prices?

Are they going to have to have rotating boards like McDonalds used to have when they switched from the breakfast menu?

No, they’ll have those electronic petrol station type displays. A bit like the ones that increased every minute last Summer whenever someone mentioned the price of oil.

 

[clapham_gull]

If you organise your drinking in advance there are lots of bargains to be had on the UK pub network particular around the "off pissed" period.

Also look out for "split drinking" where you save literally pounds by ordering your ice is a separate glass.

 

[The Fits]

I run pubs.
Weird this, although it makes sense.
As others have said it's strange being marketed as prices going up rather than prices being reduced at quieter times. And as such isn't that just mid week happy hours etc?
Plenty of pubs have always done happy hours or reduced cask at the begining of the week etc.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

As I have said before, a number of restaurants in Berlin charge more at weekends than during the week. The hospitality sector is brutal at the moment; I hope this helps them.

Another restaurant I know seems to be getting around the economic issue by having a broken card machine for the past few months and only taking cash

 

[Eeyore]

@Brighton Lines can attest that this was a thing in hotel bars in Taunton well over 30 years ago.

The convenient sponge of amnesia has wiped the memories of those days.

Frascati anyone ?

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

I don't think so, certainly something myself and her indoors will sign up for.

Where are you both going to sign and is it acceptable just to print your name ?

 

[CheeseRolls]

No problem with pub surcharges if there is something else being offered e.g. live music. Being busy doesn't really cut it for me.

 

[Skuller]

We’ll, if they’re going to charge according to how busy the pub is, then they’ll be giving beer away in Seaford.

 

[Guinness Boy]

No problem with pub surcharges if there is something else being offered e.g. live music. Being busy doesn't really cut it for me.

One of the busiest times in pubs that was mentioned on Radio 4 is straight after work, particularly Wednesday and Thursdays since the pandemic, and particularly in the City and West End of London, and presumably other big cities.

These drinks are mostly being bought on expenses or with bonuses. The round payer literally couldn't care less if they're 20p more than they were at 2.30.

 

[Eric the meek]

Thank you.

I'm trying my hardest to be outraged by this, but surely it's just the same concept as the traditional 'Happy Hour' but approached for another angle? When a pub wants to encourage trade drink prices are reduced. When they don't want/need to encourage trade then prices increase.

It reminds me a bit of the old days when pubs used to have Public and Saloon bars. The same beer in the same pub served by the same people at the same time would cost you a few pence more if the room had a bit of carpet on the floor.

My memory is fading these days, but I'm pretty sure that saloon bars tended to have more women in them, so to mix with these strange creatures, it would cost you a few pence per pint more.

 

[Guinness Boy]

The policy makes no sense to me, other than to try and cash in and make more money from your customer. In busier times, economy of scale means you generally can sell more per head of staff than at quieter times. TK acting like a politician imo and treating the general public as idiots.

"Wet" pubs are probably only just covering their costs right now. There's a tiny bit more margin if you're selling food too but that obviously comes with costs. I don't think what TK is saying is unreasonable for any pub where their only profit is in each pint they sell, which will likely be a few pennies,

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

"Wet" pubs are probably only just covering their costs right now. There's a tiny bit more margin if you're selling food too but that obviously comes with costs. I don't think what TK is saying is unreasonable for any pub where their only profit is in each pint they sell, which will likely be a few pennies,

I get that and I know pubs are having a torrid time generally, I just don’t get his logic that it costs more to run a pub the busier it is. I know there are incremental increases, but surely the more you generally sell the more profitable you should be? I don’t have an issue with pubs putting up their prices, I just feel his explanation is a bit lame and misleading.