First pub, two drinks, £10.70. Ouch, we thought. But that must just be what it costs round there nowadays.
Second pub, literally round the corner. Same two drinks came to £6 something.
I’m trying to be normal today and do my actual job instead of falling into a hyperfixated rabbithole of how pubs work and how they can possibly be so different despite being in essentially the same location and about the same size. But I can’t get it out of my mind!
Both of them had dogs in, so it can’t be that. The more expensive one was much more brightly lit, so maybe pub-grade lightbulbs are very expensive? 🤔
Any subject-matter experts hanging about who can put me out of my misery?
Different priced drinks, especially that much disparity, will give you pretty different clientele as well. More expensive place might just want to avoid the crowded, rowdy nights you’re more likely to have at the cheaper pubs.
If there isn’t a consistent threat of getting punted then I’m not even sure why I’m bothering to go out.
We will most certainly be choosing the cheaper place for our next rowdy night out. Which at our age will probably be in like, ten years or so.
I went to a relatively central ish pub in London the other day in a somewhat touristy area (but by no means the most!). The card machine asked me if I wanted to give a tip when I was paying £13.75 (and I just checked this on my bank statement to be certain) for two pints.
When I said no (I just tapped the option on the card machine) - the bartender was visibly pissed and almost threw our drinks at us.
This is not the US. Tipping culture - especially when drinks are already that expensive can fuck right off. It would be slightly different if they’d brought the drinks to our table, I suppose…
There’s a similar disparity round here. We were discussing it in my local. It seems like the higher prices are being charged in micro pubs with lines in craft ales (usually made in shorter runs) and speciality spirits (count how many varieties of gin they have) or pubs that also serve food.
We were originally planning to visit a relatively new micro pub place that’s popped up there. But after the sticker shock of the regular pub we sacked that one off pretty quick!
Who owned the two respective pubs, and what drinks did you have? The latter could’ve had them on promo for some reason. I’ll say that whilst you can get price differences between venues they’re rarity that extreme
Well this is what I thought, but then I looked on Google for reviews and everyone was just saying “go here for cheap drinks” so it seems like a long term thing.
Afaik they’re both independent rather than chain pubs. Both had pool and darts. Although I did just find out (yeah the getting on with work thing isn’t going so well) that the more expensive one doubles as a b&b with a couple of bedrooms upstairs so I wonder if it’s a bit of a “captive audience” type situation.
I agree with LameSauce that it may just be down to having a smaller crowd that will “pay a premium” to have a quieter/less crowded place to hang out and drink.
Yeah, probably. Whatever it is, people seem happy to pay it. We walked back past on the way home and it’d filled up nicely 🤷♀️
As well as the premium for a quieter place to drink, the captive audience thing also makes sense. When I initially read your account it made me think of hotel bars, which can exploit the fact that many punters will be expensing their drinks…
Good point! It’s a pretty rural town that people tend to stop off in on multi-day hikes and stuff so I reckon if you’ve just rolled into a “b&b” after walking all day you’ll probably pay anything for a cold drink.
£10.60 for two drinks is cheap by London standards so definitely that b&b trap must be working.
You did well to find somewhere that wasn’t weather spoons for two drinks @ £6.
Can’t even get a Madri, moretti like pint for less than £5-6 in most places now.
