Pints at London pubs have finally crossed the long-dreaded £10 barrier, with several central venues now charging double digits for a beer. The first £8 pints a few years back raised eyebrows, and more recently £9 pints prompted many to sit back down at their table with a huffy 'guess how much I just paid for this'. But now, they are officially here.
£11 Pints in Mayfair
A number of pubs in the centre of the city have introduced £10 pints to their menus. Some have even gone beyond: punters at Stanley's rooftop bar in Mayfair must shell out £11 for a humble pint of Heineken or Birra Moretti. Strangely, those opting for a half-pint of either drink are charged £8. For those unfamiliar, a half-pint is exactly half the size of a pint. Meanwhile, in particularly galling news for non-drinkers, bottles of alcohol-free Lucky Saint and Guinness 0.0 cost a whopping £10 at the bar, which is located on top of the Chesterfield hotel.
It is a similar story at the Connaught bar, also in Mayfair, where beer is only available in 330ml bottles that cost a uniform £10.50 – and that goes for Lucky Saint as well as alcoholic Curious IPA and Noam lager. Of course, both of these examples have the qualification of being attached to luxury hotels, and in the case of Stanley's you are also paying for the view over nearby rooftops. Guests at the Chesterfield who fancy a cheaper pint could, for example, nip around the corner to the Coach and Horses where they can pick up the house pale ale for a mere £6.20.
Average Pint Price Set to Rise
Drinkers who are used to prices being jacked up in recent years may be wondering if this is a harbinger. Recent analysis by the Telegraph found that the average price of a pint of beer is set to hit £10 within a decade, due to increases in taxes and costs. The war in Iran is putting additional pressure on the brewing industry, with energy costs having an impact on every part of the chain from transport and storage during production to heating and lighting in pubs.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the average cost of a draught lager pint in the UK is £4.83 – roughly double what it was 20 years ago. O'Neill's, a popular Irish pub close to London's Leicester Square, sparked uproar with a policy of bumping up the price of its drinks by £2 at peak times. Owners Mitchells & Butlers told Metro at the time: 'The policy at Wardour Street reflects a request from both the licensing authority and the police that we increase prices after 10pm to a level generally in line with the late-night market. This policy has been in place for about 2 years.'
