Heading to a pub to watch the Euros in June? It may cost you more than twice as much depending on which boozer you choose.
A host of pubs across the capital have put pint prices up by more than 20% since the start of last year, an Evening Standard analysis has found, while it can cost more than £3 more for the same beer in different parts of the capital. If a group of four friends each got a round in, that could add as much as £50 to the total bill.
The analysis is based on pint price data for a sample of popular draught beers at more than 100 pubs across London. The figures were collected during the month of May and were obtained using mobile ordering apps from four of the country’s largest operators: Wetherspoon, Mitchells and Butlers, Stonegate and Greene King (plus one in-person pub trip, for important research).
The Standard found that Newham had the lowest prices, with an average pint costing £4.06, while Kensington had the highest with an average of just over £7. The average price across London was £5.43, an increased of 69p, or 15%, compared to the start of last year. Average prices rose by more than £1 in some suburban boroughs like Haringey and Hounslow, but rose less than 50p in other parts like Newham and Sutton.
The data also shows how pricing can vary wildly between different areas of London for the same operator. A pint of Guinness at a Wetherspoon pub in the Square Mile costs £6.29, while it only costs less than £3.50 in some outer London boroughs like Hillingdon and Enfield. Stonegate will charge you £7.60 for a pint of Moretti in Canary Wharf, but only £5.30 for the same pint in Croydon.
The analysis shows the four operators appear to have adopted different pricing strategies. The average pint price rose 65p at Wetherspoon pubs in London, while at Greene King pubs prices rose 75p and and Mitchells and Butlers pubs, prices only rose by 30p.
Mitchells and Butlers CEO Phil Urban said: “The way we price is very much about looking at regular price surveys, we look at product relativities and we look at costs of operations, and costs of operation are more expensive inside London then they are outside London.”
But, Urban said, the “hike in prices that we have seen over the last two or three years with high inflation is slowing down, so in our latest round of menus we only took 1.8% price.
“I think what we’ll see going forward is a return to more normal levels of price increases of between 2.5 to 5%.”
