Overview
- Following Monday's reports, menus at Mayfair hotels listed beers at £10 to £12.50, including £11 pints at Stanley’s rooftop bar and £12.50 330ml bottles at the Connaught Grill.
- A visit on Tuesday to Stanley’s found an £11 Heineken carried a 15% service charge, taking the bill to £12.65.
- These headline prices sit far above typical costs, with industry data putting the UK average pint at about £4.52 and London around £6.50.
- Rising costs are feeding through the supply chain, as seen in Diageo’s 5.2% draught price increase in April and campaigners blaming taxes, business rates and employer National Insurance for squeezing margins.
- Operators are split on pricing, with some warning thousands of venues are at risk this year while others, like The Devonshire in Soho, keep a sub-£5 pint to protect regulars.