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Thread: London prices

  1. #21
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    Default Basingstoke JDW

    Quote Originally Posted by Aqualung View Post
    I've only been to half a dozen or so Spoons outside the London area, and the only one I can recall being rubbish was the one near Piccadilly Station in Manchester. I vaguely remember an indifference to the one in Reading.

    The only one I've been to this year that was rubbish was the one at Potter's Bar.
    Prior to that the only one I've had a problem with beer quality is the John Gilpin at Edmonton. There are other issues such as a limited selection of beers or an awful building (the Wood Green one wins my award for that) and the perennial Spoons problem of slow service.

    The vast majority of them are pretty soulless as they are not pubs in the old sense of the word, more like a cross between a drinking establishment and a Cafe, and of course almost all of them are much larger than the original Victorian pubs, some alarmingly so. The shop conversion doesn't help either as it means the only natural light is from the doors at the front, although not a problem in the evenings.

    I see that the Basingstoke Spoons is currently GBG listed. Is it any good?

    I'm going to try a local pub to me that I haven't been to for some 35 years when it was a rubbish keg Truman's house. It's Ye Olde Rose and Crown which is holding a beer festival and the decision to move on will be mainly made on the price issue.
    It's been a regulat GBG entry for some years now and is widely regarded as the best pub in Walthamstow. We shall see.

    The nearby Bell is still very much WIP, but they seem determined to open in early November. Apparently they have had no end of problems with the refurbishment. There is a website Belle17.com. I'm expecting the prices to be high (over £3 a pint) so there will probably be only one visit by me to see what it's like.
    I haven't been in the Basingstoke JDW ,The Maidenhead Inn for about 18 months or so ,Basingstoke itself is not a serious pub goers destination as I seem to remember old boots mentioning in the past,the pub I suppose does not have the usual Wetherspoons look decor wise as you enter from the main entrance,Quinno ,in a recent review mentions it looks like something from an Ikea ad,a good description, I in the past have likened it to walking into a canteen. To be fair the beer I had was in good nick, cant now remember what it was or how much but good enough for another,but as with my past comments on this issue not a place I would want to stay in to long.
    Many Wetherspoons seem to find themselves in the GBG even my nearest outlet The Prince Arthurwhich ,my bias aside really is rubbish,there seems to be some mutual back scratching between CAMRA and Wetherspoons,or have I now become totally paranoid.
    The Idea of Wetherspoons is a good one, promoting a wide range of real ale at very good prices,but as someone recently said ,and I believe it was old boots again, many of their pubs don't come up with the goods.
    Last edited by Mobyduck; 24-10-2012 at 07:49. Reason: carp spelling
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  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by pintplease View Post
    For the last 3 weeks I have been paying £1.50 a pint for guest ales in JDW using vouchers issued to attract the new intake of students in Leeds from nearby universities. The vouchers run to the end of November so I wont be drinking anywhere else for a while. Without the vouchers its £1.99. I don't know how other members of this site can afford some of the crazy prices quoted. Thank goodness for Wetherspoons.
    I am in no sense of the word wealthy,probably because I am regularly paying £3.50 a pint or so.I could drink in my local Wetherspoons for £1.99 a pint but wouldn't be enjoying myself regardless of whether the beer was good or not, so if I wasn' enjoying my surroundings I'd rather go without.
    "Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer."
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  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by pintplease View Post
    For the last 3 weeks I have been paying £1.50 a pint for guest ales in JDW using vouchers issued to attract the new intake of students in Leeds from nearby universities. The vouchers run to the end of November so I wont be drinking anywhere else for a while. Without the vouchers its £1.99. I don't know how other members of this site can afford some of the crazy prices quoted. Thank goodness for Wetherspoons.
    If Wetherspoons can afford to do this and still make a profit, it just shows what a rip-off the places are charging over £3 a pint and i'm sure in London over £4 a pint. It's worth remembering though that Spoons dropped their prices this summer so I wouldn't put it past them whacking the prices up after the Xmas / New Year period.

    Are there conditions with the student vouchers as with the CAMRA ones, namely one drink per visit and ten issued for a 3 month period? If you've got two Spoons next door as in Romford then you could bypass the one drink per visit by simply making the short walk between each one for the next pint!!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mobyduck View Post
    I am in no sense of the word wealthy,probably because I am regularly paying £3.50 a pint or so.I could drink in my local Wetherspoons for £1.99 a pint but wouldn't be enjoying myself regardless of whether the beer was good or not, so if I wasn' enjoying my surroundings I'd rather go without.
    You have my sympathy as most Spoons don't have great surroundings, but I have noticed that some of the ones that do have half decent surroundings (ie natural light through windows, rather than a dark shop conversion) still get slagged off on another beer review site. I wonder if some of the posts are made by rival pubs that have seen all their trade go down.

    To me the price, choice and quality of the beer are paramount. I would drink beer in a rat infested hovel if it was good and cheap enough!!!

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aqualung View Post
    You have my sympathy as most Spoons don't have great surroundings, but I have noticed that some of the ones that do have half decent surroundings (ie natural light through windows, rather than a dark shop conversion) still get slagged off on another beer review site. I wonder if some of the posts are made by rival pubs that have seen all their trade go down.

    To me the price, choice and quality of the beer are paramount. I would drink beer in a rat infested hovel if it was good and cheap enough!!!
    All fair comments ,we just differ on the last couple of sentences,but everybody to their own.
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    As London Calling has said, this is mainly due to ridiculously high property prices in London. The prosperity of the area is probably the causal factor behind both symptoms..

    Aqualung mentioned the awful Wetherspoons on Piccadilly and I would wholeheartedly agree! It is probably one of the worst pubs in Manchester and unfortunately one that many newcomers to the city probably visit first. The Paramount, just 5 minutes walk away, is one of the better Wetherspoons.

    I had my 3rd most expensive pint in London when I got a Stone Ruination IPA at Euston Tap..over £7 a pint Well worth it though...

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    Quote Originally Posted by Spinko View Post
    As London Calling has said, this is mainly due to ridiculously high property prices in London. The prosperity of the area is probably the causal factor behind both symptoms..

    Aqualung mentioned the awful Wetherspoons on Piccadilly and I would wholeheartedly agree! It is probably one of the worst pubs in Manchester and unfortunately one that many newcomers to the city probably visit first. The Paramount, just 5 minutes walk away, is one of the better Wetherspoons.

    I had my 3rd most expensive pint in London when I got a Stone Ruination IPA at Euston Tap..over £7 a pint Well worth it though...
    I beg to differ about the property price issue. If that is the case then how come Wetherspoons can charge £1.99 for many of their beers (I'm not including Central London in this).

    Most London pubs have been in the same ownership for many years, so what the property is worth doesn't come into it. The fact is that all the pub chains and brewers charge as much as they think they can get away with. The Last Post in Loughton yesterday had the tedious Fuller's London Pride at £2.65 and the much less tedious ESB at £2.85. All the festival ales which included a 6% mock Belgian beer were £1.99.

    A clue to the attitiude of the brewers / pubcos can be gleaned from the Scottish Newcastle pubs web site where they display a list of their "premium" products, all of which are complete rubbish apart from Deuchar's IPA. They make the bold claim about this pile of dross in that they are premium products that will attract customers prepared to pay a premium price. Don't you just love Marketing Executives?

    By the way Spinko, have you been to the William IV in Leyton yet? Last Friday you could have had a pint of Keykeg Big Mofo Stout (10.5%) and a pint of Imperial IPA (11%) and had 40p change from your seven quid! Whether you would have got home afterwards is another matter!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Aqualung View Post
    I beg to differ about the property price issue. If that is the case then how come Wetherspoons can charge £1.99 for many of their beers (I'm not including Central London in this).
    Not seen thm ever do sub £2 pints outside of rundown areas.

    Most London pubs have been in the same ownership for many years, so what the property is worth doesn't come into it. The fact is that all the pub chains and brewers charge as much as they think they can get away with. The Last Post in Loughton yesterday had the tedious Fuller's London Pride at £2.65 and the much less tedious ESB at £2.85. All the festival ales which included a 6% mock Belgian beer were £1.99.
    Were they £2.85 or £1.99?

    A clue to the attitiude of the brewers
    pubcos can be gleaned from the Scottish Newcastle pubs web site where they display a list of their "premium" products, all of which are complete rubbish apart from Deuchar's IPA. They make the bold claim about this pile of dross in that they are premium products that will attract customers prepared to pay a premium price. Don't you just love Marketing Executives?

    Yes, I have one of them at work and she is female. Perhaps enough said....

    By the way Spinko, have you been to the William IV in Leyton yet? Last Friday you could have had a pint of Keykeg Big Mofo Stout (10.5%) and a pint of Imperial IPA (11%) and had 40p change from your seven quid! Whether you would have got home afterwards is another matter!
    Sounds like my kind of craft beer. I'll put it on my itinerary...

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    All of the Spoons I've been to for the current festival have been charging £1.99 for the festival beers.
    The Fuller's beers were observed on sale in the run down Essex town Loughton where all the festival beers were priced at £1.99.

    As far as I'm concerned beers from larger regional beers that are not on the official Spoons guest list are not welcome as they displace beers from the official guest list or beers from genuine local breweries of which there are many nowadays. The main culprits round my way for this are Fullers and Adnams and to a lesser extent Nethergate.

  10. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aqualung View Post
    All of the Spoons I've been to for the current festival have been charging £1.99 for the festival beers.
    The Fuller's beers were observed on sale in the run down Essex town Loughton where all the festival beers were priced at £1.99.

    As far as I'm concerned beers from larger regional beers that are not on the official Spoons guest list are not welcome as they displace beers from the official guest list or beers from genuine local breweries of which there are many nowadays. The main culprits round my way for this are Fullers and Adnams and to a lesser extent Nethergate.
    Not been to a Spoons for a festival beer yet, probably down to some kind of phobia! but heard today my nearest Spoons was flogging off its usual suspect beers for a £1.00 a go desperately trying to free up pumps for festival ales.
    "Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer."
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