How much?! Pubs and restaurants need hard-pressed customers to keep spending
(Picture: Design by Ped Millichamp)It is inky evening time, and the blinking pub lights beckon in the dark. A first pint is ordered. The landlord looks up at the lone figure in front of him: “Fourteen quid please, mate.” There is a chalkboard sign on the bar: “We only accept Amex”.
Is this the future of a night out? As spiralling energy costs threatened businesses with unfathomable figures last month — Tom Kerridge forecast his Marlow pub’s electricity bill would go up from £60,000 to £420,000 a year — headlines warned of the soaring price of a pint. Pension provider Penfold released a report that swiftly went viral for its startling figures: the headline was £14 for a pint by 2025, in keeping with the 41.27 per cent increase in the cost of living that’s occurred over the past five years. Soon after, a Reddit thread was picked up by the national press as drinkers compared the price of their pints; one barman said his place was charging £16.50 for a craft brew. While the Government’s six-month energy cap for businesses managed to briefly quell the conversation, Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget and its consequences — the plunging pound and consequent rocketing interest rates — mean that landlords and restaurateurs alike are wondering how their bills will be paid. And so the question of a £14 pint is once again rearing its frothy head.
