Why haven't beer prices come down?

[bcfczuluarmy]

My question wasn't really directed at just London but anywhere.

Revert to post #2

[NickDavies]

Accountants and investors are only interested in the bottom line. If they see turnover and therefore profits and therefore shareholder dividends falling they take fright. They'll want to make roughly the same profit on the same volume which means increasing margins if costs fall. It takes considerable external pressure to get companies to make price cuts, as we see whenever energy or oil prices fall and retail prices lag behind for as long as they can get away with.

[Farway]

It takes considerable external pressure to get companies to make price cuts, as we see whenever energy or oil prices fall and retail prices lag behind for as long as they can get away with.

Round here the "sever external pressure" was a 'spoons opening one door away from Fullers pub, so the beers [daytime weekdays] dropped to £2 a pint, presumably Fullers would rather take a hit than see this very busy pub close

This caused a knock on affect to another Fuller's pub on same main road, another busy & profitable pub, he saw his daytime trade vanish 1 mile south

like wise presumably Fullers would rather take another hit than see this very busy pub close

[london calling]

When pubs galore had a crawl round Liecester I was speaking to the guvnor of the Oakwell brewery pub and asked how they could sell beer for about £2 a pint.He said don't you worry about that lad just sup up ,3 months later brewery closed pubs shut bankrupt..

[london calling]

You just don't seem to accept that most London pubs are taking you for a ride. I've only tried 500ml bottled Bengal Lancer from the supermarket which cost well under two quid per bottle (I think it was three for a fiver) and I thought it was rubbish.
I would dispute your idea that Spoons food subsidises the beer just as I would Tim Martin's ridiculous suggestion that supermarkets are using zero VAT on fresh or uncooked food items to subsidise cheap booze. In my local Spoons on Steak Club Tuesday the mixed grill costs £6.85 as opposed to £9.70 on other days. When I had one last week I had a Banks's Devil's Backbone keg IPA as the drink which should have been £2.89 and that meant the meal with gammon, rump steak, lamb, sausage, mushroom chips and tomato effectively cost less than £4.00. The food requires someone to microwave it, deliver it and collect the empty plates so is more staff intensive than just a pint of beer.
As for soft drinks what are they anyway? I know about coffee in Spoons though and all the ones I've been to do a free refill of bog-standard coffee from opening to 14:00. This means I could turn up at my local Spoons at 08:00 and drink endless coffees until 14:00 for just 0.79p. I've never done this but last week I got through two for £1.15 in the Willow Walk at Victoria while waiting for the coffin-dodger's pass time to arrive.
In the West Midlands Batham's pubs all sell their Mild at £2.30 and Best Bitter at £2.55, they and their pubs seem to be doing alright. Those prices are competetive with the local Spoons which I've generally found are not as good as a lot of the London ones.

I do accept that some pubs take you for a ride that's why I mentioned the Bengal Lancer(nice pint though).That's good value for a mixed grill but on the same menu Pasta Pomedoro £5.59 that's pasta and tomato sauce to you and me.Maybe a slightly higher profit margin.Anyway back to the basic question.If they pass on the 10p savings they have recently made would you change your local and drink in another pub to save money.Most wouldn't so they know that and don't bother and breweries will tell you it means they wont have to increase prices as much this coming year.Win Win as they say.

[Aqualung]

I do accept that some pubs take you for a ride that's why I mentioned the Bengal Lancer(nice pint though).That's good value for a mixed grill but on the same menu Pasta Pomedoro £5.59 that's pasta and tomato sauce to you and me.Maybe a slightly higher profit margin.Anyway back to the basic question.If they pass on the 10p savings they have recently made would you change your local and drink in another pub to save money.Most wouldn't so they know that and don't bother and breweries will tell you it means they wont have to increase prices as much this coming year.Win Win as they say.

I'm with you on the Pomedoro, I thought it was absolute rubbish and would never try it again. It must cost about 50p for the ingredients at most. The Spoons January Sale starts on Monday and I THINK the poster in my local one said that guest ales would be from £1.79.
One pub not far from me has started a "beer of the week" for just £3.00 as opposed to £3.40 so I do feel like it's worth popping in there for one on the way to the Spoons. It underwent what must have been an expensive thirteen week refurbishment last summer.

[sheffield hatter]

On my travels this year I've been getting used to paying well over £3 a pint - places like Luton (£3.30), Exeter (£3.50 average), Bristol (£3.40 to £3.90), Edinburgh (£3.65) come to mind. Burton on Trent (£3.00) was an exception, and then we have the total rip off that is Brighton (£3.85) and don't get me started on London. Went for a walk in Edale the other day and my refreshment at The Old Nags Head Inn came in at £3.65 a pint.

Here in Sheffield I hardly ever pay over £3, and regular favourites such as Kelham Island Best at the Fat Cat and Thwaites Nutty Black at the Kelham Island Tavern are much nearer to £2 than £3.

[Aqualung]

On my travels this year I've been getting used to paying well over £3 a pint - places like Luton (£3.30), Exeter (£3.50 average), Bristol (£3.40 to £3.90), Edinburgh (£3.65) come to mind. Burton on Trent (£3.00) was an exception, and then we have the total rip off that is Brighton (£3.85) and don't get me started on London. Went for a walk in Edale the other day and my refreshment at The Old Nags Head Inn came in at £3.65 a pint.

As some fat bloke with long hair once said "You took the words right out of my mouth". Even Holden's know how to charge for their guest ales. The strong ones in the Great Western are priced at £3.60 and that includes their own Old Ale but at least they are six or seven per cent ABV. I think their own Special there is £2.90.

[Mobyduck]

Here in Sheffield I hardly ever pay over £3, and regular favourites such as Kelham Island Best at the Fat Cat and Thwaites Nutty Black at the Kelham Island Tavern are much nearer to £2 than £3.

And they say "Its grim up north" .

[NickDavies]

Well I stopped for a quick one in here today. JAQPTIO paid £3.79 for a pint of Harvey's best just 20 months ago. My very average (2 points) and short measured pint of the same beer was an ambitious £4.25. Greedy King are clearly milking their new central London investments for every penny they can get.