Operator Allister Collins has opted to sell pints at £2 each in order to boost trade – £1.26 less than the average price of a standard pint of lager in the on-trade, according to figures from CGA Insight.
Collins’ price reduction follows a survey by YouGov which found that more than half (56%) of Britons feel the price of on-trade beer is not affordable.
Moreover, research by The Morning Advertiser found supermarkets are selling beer for the equivalent of 79p per pint – making it impossible for pubs to compete given a raft of cost pressures.
Collins told The Mirror: “Customers are finding it much cheaper to stay at home with low-price supermarket beer. But we are absolutely not giving up.”
Allister added: “There’s nothing wrong with having a drink at home watching Netflix, but there’s nothing like putting the world to rights with mates in the pub.”
Pub closures
Collins’ decision to roll his price policy back just shy of two decades follows new figures from The Market Growth Monitor from CGA and AlixPartners that revealed the number of pubs and bars has fallen by more than 11% compared with 2013.
Additionally, in September 2018, there were more than 6,000 fewer pubs and bars than five years ago.
Younger customers prefer a night in
The £2 price introduced by Collins, the price of a pint in 1999, pre-dates many of the customers who may well opt to prop up the bar in the Tyler’s Kiln following the new pricing.
An increasing number of younger customers are opting for a night in as opposed to a trip to the pub, with recent figures from sofa and carpet specialist ScS revealing that 93% of 16 to 24-year-olds prefer to spend Friday night in during winter.
