Beer is cheaper than water!

Not in the slightest. You got what you asked for, at a price that was presumably displayed next to the bar on the tariff, although I'd expect most places would have repoured the drink if you'd asked. Next time, ask for "just a little ice."

Was the drink really half ice, or was it just stacked half way up the glass?

Did you kick up a fuss in front of your "lady-friend"?

I presume your ''lady-friend'' remark is a jibe. I am 60 years old, I don't need to impress a woman in the way I think you are implying.

I did not get what I asked for. I asked for a pint of lemonade, I paid for a PINT of lemonade, what I got was a pint of water and lemonade. Had they given me a pint of lemonade with say some ice in a glass it would not be a problem.

No the price was not displayed next to the bar.

if they put ice in it without you asking hen i tfeel you should have asked for a replacement.

I do think people should not complain about prices if they do not check them before buying. Drinks in a pub must be one of the few items that people seem to order quite happily without checking the price first. It then seems rather churlish to complain about high pricing.

I'd like to see pub users asking to see prices before ordering, which might encourage publicans to display prices more prominently. This is one thing bars in places such as Belgium have it right, with their beer menus always on show.

Just why don't the British check before ordering?

John B

archierob8/9/03 5:26 PM

So, the beer cost 1.85 and the half water/lemonade 2.50 and the beer is of course a Govt taxed item too.

Buying a round for kids is more expensive than for adults. Since kids became a norm in pubs, the prices have climbed. Is there some hidden agenda here with certain pubs methinks?

It's outrageous. There is no excuse for it. And - is it helping drink driving discouragement? I've been charged similar sums in the past.

In some circumstances when I'm driving these days and have had my beer limit, I do ask for tap water in pubs. I'm always curious to see if they charge me when I'm buying alcoholic drinks for others.

It is an example of "rip-off Britain" at its worst - all too common - commercially stupid too - and we wonder why pub attendance falls and a pub a day is closing down.

CR

I bought a beer the other day and it was virtually all water.

In message , Pandora writes

Many years ago in a Reading nightclub the barman quietly pointed out that a pint of lager was considerably cheaper than the pint of lemonade I ordered (for a friend!), would I like a lager top instead? The splash of lager topped up with 99% of a pint of lemonade did indeed work out ~40% cheaper...

The drink industry is full of scam artists, the soft drink one is just the most common rip-off of many ;(

Not at all, no offence intended.

More commonly than you might expect, bar staff have to deal with men who buy their partner a drink then complain bitterly about the price of the drink she has chosen. It's not one of the all-time top romantic gestures.

If your friend was asked if she wanted ice and she said yes, you got what you paid for.

Then they are breaking the law. There has to be a tariff displayed in the bar area.

One of the eccentricities of British law is that they /cannot/ sell you a "pint" of lemonade. They can sell you a half litre, or 568 millilitres, but not a pint. Only draught beer and cider, plus milk in returnable bottles, are allowed to be sold as pints.

Furthermore, there is no obligation on the pub to sell you any kind of fixed measure where soft drinks are concerned. Or wine. Strictly speaking, they sell it by the glass, sometimes a "large glass" or a "small glass". (Or in the more down market establishments, by the can, I suppose.)

Wine is the one that annoys me because a "large glass" in one pub can be 175 ml, or 250 ml in another pub. Very confusing, and not just from the financial POV either - it doesn't help if you're counting calories or alcohol intake.

Still, at least most pubs nowadays do use lined, stamped glasses for wine. But again, they're not obliged to.

At some places you can get free refills of soft drinks with a meal, which I've used to good effect in the past. Also, when asked if you want ice, say no. Then add it yourself from the ice bucket later.

I really annoys me when cheapskates complain about excessive prices for drinks. If you want a decent Fentimans, then you are going to have to realise that you are going to have to pay for it.

snipped-for-privacy@plants.ox.ac.uk (David Lloyd) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

You were not 'deceived', provided the price was on display. You did look at the price before paying, did you not? You were ripped off though....£1.85 for a pint of beer! Lets say that your pint of beer was about 96 percent water. It's still four times the price of Petrol, which is taxed at hundreds of percentage points more than beer. Yes, petrol, the source of which has to be 'explored', drilled for, pumped, stored, loaded onto a specially designed ship, and, provided the right payoffs have been made to all the middle men, not to mention a few human lives here and there, arrives here some 10 days later, to be stored, handled, processed and delivered, whereupon it is further taxed at 17.5percent before you serve yourself, to save a few more pence! All this, for a mere 40 pence a pint ! and you paid 1.85GBP for a pint of

Big G10/9/03 8:22 AM

A pint of unleaded sir?...

... put that cigarette out!!

Chris R Sings... "I ask her for whiskey, She give me gas-o -line----"

It's not a scam. Since when did the retail price of things have anything to do with the cost price?

Bravo, sir! A masterful piece of irony!

m.

yep I always thought that a standard ( small ) glass of wine was 125 ml ( 6 glasess / bottle ) but now seems to be 175 ml why ???

That's just to make sure that they don't give you too much - if wine had a head on it they'd probably go over to brim measure. Same reason pint glasses have a 1/2 pint line - don't want to give the punters more that 1/2 pint of beer in a shandy when the lemo is sold for more that the price of the beer but costs a fraction of the price ( 2 litres for ~ 60 p in the supermarket sound right ).

-ian

But then I'm 98% water myself!!!