A central London pub has increased the price of drinks in the late evening — saying that customers need to pay for their security.
O’Neill’s on Wardour Street, Soho, has added a £2 surcharge on all drinks served after 10pm, meaning that a pint costing £7.40 goes up to £9.40 later in the evening.
The surcharge applies to all drinks sold at the boozer — not just beers — with the owners saying the cost is “justified” as it costs them more to operate late at night.
The Irish-themed pub’s other capital chains have not introduced the same “dynamic pricing”.
An A4 poster placed at the venue simply states: “We operate a variable price list in this venue.”
A spokesman for Mitchells & Butlers, the company that runs O’Neill’s, told the Independent: “Most hospitality businesses and retailers deploy a form of dynamic pricing, but this means that prices can both rise as well as fall through tactical discounts being offered in the form of time-limited promotions and fixed price menus.
“Dynamic pricing varies on a site-by-site basis as it reflects the local market conditions, but temporary price increases tend to reflect the need to offset additional costs such as at times when door security is required.”
But some pub-goers are unhappy as the following posts on X (formerly Twitter) illustrate.
Pure greed on the Pub owner's
— Thomas (@Thomas090026142) November 11, 2024
Personally I don't drink anymore, I'm t total these days, but at nearly £10 a pint, I'm not surprised the pub industry is in such decline.
— Carl Beamont (@CarlBeamont) November 11, 2024
They can charge whatever they like. I'd go to the pub adjacent, though.
— EddCanoe (@EddCanoe) November 9, 2024
Other users said the prices before the increase were bad enough.
For a start I wouldn’t pay over £7 for a pint.
— james burnett (@jamesbu34761657) November 11, 2024
£7.40 is bad enough. I pay £3.80 at my local regardless of time.
— Simon (@2020Just1ce) November 11, 2024
Time Out London reported that in the 1950s and 1960s, the Wardour Street space now occupied by O’Neill’s was home to jazz bar the Flamingo Club. It hosted live appearances by everyone from The Rolling Stones and Otis Redding to Dizzy Gillespie and Rod Stewart.
By the 1980s, it was called the Wag Club and hosted the first ever hip-hop club night in 1982.
