Is it fair to up the price of a half pint?

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has claimed that adding to the proportional price of a half could be “unfairly penalising” responsible drinkers, and urged pubs to be transparent with pricing.

Survey

A survey conducted by CAMRA studied pubs that upped the price of a half.

The survey found that of the 59 pubs reported to have proportionately upped the cost of a half, almost one in 10 were adding between 41p and 50p to the cost of a half.

CAMRA claimed in some cases pubs charged £2 for half of a £3-a-pint beer.

In the most extreme case one pub added 82.5p to the proportional cost of a half pint, with a half costing £2.95 and a pint costing £4.25.

But nearly half of the pubs opted for a lower increase of between 6p and 20p.

'Confusing'

Chief campaigns officer for CAMRA Jonathan Mail said: "This feedback from our branches shows how confusing it can be for drinkers. If you buy a half pint in a pub you might be expecting to pay a price broadly in line with the proportional cost of a pint, but in fact you might end up paying 50p more per half pint than you expect.”

CAMRA also found that out of 28 pubs studied by volunteers, 60% did not display a price list.

Transparency

"The lack of clear information and pricing for consumers adds to this confusion and we'd call on licensees to be as clear and transparent as possible about their pricing to help consumers make an informed decision,” Mail continued.

"CAMRA recognises that there may be a need for pubs to round up to the nearest five pence.

“However, the wide difference in premium added suggests that some pubs are unfairly penalising customers trying to drink responsibly by choosing half-pint measures and in some cases obscuring this mark-up by not clearly displaying prices."

• Is it fair to up the price of a half pint? Email oli.gross@wrbm.com with your views