Average pint price close to £5, according to MA data

That means a pint costs 19p more than the official statistics from the Office of National Statistics, which charted the July 2024 draught pint price at £4.79.

The MA Pint Price Survey​ has studied the average prices of pints across London, the Midlands, north-east, north-west, south-east, south-west, Scotland and Wales and includes more than 30 beer brands across the category including lagers, craft, cask and stout.

Its latest findings are from August 2024 and is the second time the MA Pint Prices Survey has taken place. You can see the results from the first version, which took place in March this year, by clicking here​.

There have been several fluctuations during the quarterly period both up and down in the regional differences and it must be noted that all submissions of pint prices are made at a certain point in time and pricing can be volatile.

London has seen prices rise once again with pubs charging an average of £5.92 for a pint, a figure that is still higher than averages everywhere else in Great Britain.

South-west costs higher than south-east

Once again, the south-east was one of the most expensive places to get a pint in the on-trade at an average cost of £5.29.

However, prices are even higher in the south-west where customers will have to fork out £5.31 for a pint.

The north-west has tipped over the £5 level, where the price is now £5.01 while the best value pints can be found in Wales, Scotland, the north-east and the Midlands.

Licensees can expect to charge £4.76 for a pint in Wales and it’s £4.73 in Scotland. Survey respondents state it’s £4.65 on average in the north-east while the Midlands is the cheapest at £4.53.

The MA Pint Price Survey​ has investigated the prices for some 33 brands overall with a split of 19 lagers – which includes premium and core variants.

There’s four craft beers under the microscope alongside nine cask beers and Guinness as the sole stout participant.

Beer type average prices

Across all regions, the average price of a pint of premium lager is £5.49, core lager can expect to be served for £4.51, craft can reap the largest reward costing an average of £5.89 while cask will cost an average of £5.25 and Guinness at £5.29.

London was the most expensive place in 22 of the 33 brands with it being outpriced on some variants in different regions or insufficient data.

The capital was beaten by higher price points on Carlsberg in both the south-west and south-east, by Scotland on Coors Light and the south-west on craft beers Camden Hells and Camden Pale Ale.

Conversely, the north-east was cheapest on 12 of the 33 brands, having the region with the most premium lager brands (Heineken, Madri, Cruzcampo and Estrella Damm) and cask variants (Greene King IPA, Abbot Ale, Tribute and Guinness) at the cheapest price. London, the south-west and the south-east was not the cheapest area for any of the brands listed.

The most affordable cask beer was Timothy Taylor’s Landlord costing a mere £3.80 on average in Wales while the Midlands offers both Camden Hells Lager and Camden Pale Ale at the bargain price of £4.73 on average.

In the core lager category, Foster’s, Amstel, Corona and Budweiser can be found cheapest in Scotland while the Midlands has the best premium bargains when it comes to Peroni, Asahi and Staropramen.