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Cheaper than eating and drinking at home?!!

How do they do it? Shows other pubs it can be done. If your average pub contines to sell beer at £3 and over then should they accept that draught beer will soon be dead in this country and start selling bottled lagers at a reasonable price?

Obviously im a lager lout and lager is all I care about.

I'm quite surprised as their margins were already tight. Profits were down some 20% last financial year I think, mainly due to the smoking ban.

Greene King IPA for 99p? Superb...

That said, it's all good for us as the consumer :)

I've considered having a couple of drinks in town before matches instead of going to the Merlin quite often and only done it a couple of times. Factors like this may begin to persuade me more.

Wetherspoons get away with it because the know they can afford to. All their beers and lagers etc are bought For cheper than the local does because they go out of date within about 3 days.

fair play to em.if they make a profit and can charge prices like that then great.the cost in some pubs for a pint is ridiculous compared to supermarket prices.

I agree but pubs are shutting at an increasing rate of knots so I doubt it is profiteering. Higher prices and fewer customers seems financially better for some pubs than lower prices and more customers.

Wetherspoons and other pubcos will have access to economies of scale that your local will not - so just like any area of business, the playing field is rarely level.  I'm quite torn, actually.  On the one hand, it's good to see a company that champions real ale succeeding, and taking on the supermarkets.  On the other, this could be the nail in the coffin for lots of other small local pubs.  Life is never black or white, I guess.

I dont know Wetherspoons trading practices. The pub co I work for though, with our supplier scottish & Newcastle we looked at dropping beer prices etc but no way we could do it. Wetherspoons have a niche market and I think if we dropped beer prices in our pubs I dont think we would get people in there. We own the Glasshouse (old Bedroom) in Swindon. Its already incredibly dead and if we dropped prices to a quid a pint no one would still go in there so... A pint I believe is about 70p to buy for pubco's and prob about 50p for spoons if their beer is near a sell by date. It's all well and good Spoons doing this and I would drink there ofcourse but there has been other examples of pubs doing 99p pints and the police and government have kicked off about binge drinking so it won't be long before the price goes back up IMO.

Best website for pub news and whats happening in the industry is...http://www.thepublican.co.uk/

Like shops however pubs may start selling at a loss so and in the long run it may hurt them. Time will tell though.

wetherspoons are the tescos of the licensing game, fair play if you want to drink there but continue to do so and your local wont survive.

Wetherspoons,like Zavvi,are soulless dives,a chav's paradise.I really would prefer to pay more to drink in a proper pub

Wetherspoons and Supermarkets are killing the traditional British Pub along with the Goverment. Drink at your local otherwise it will be plastic rent a pubs only in 5 years time.

You're right about coppers kicking off about binge drinking etc.  Always been the way.  When I was running a student union about 8 years ago we used to do a 70's night called kinky afro, the hook being the 70p pints.  Which we could make money on as people generally got bored with fosters and moved on to red bull and vodka etc where the margins were much larger.

Then the council and police 'recommended' to all licensed premises that the minimum ad rink could be sold for was £1 and 2 for 1's must be £2 minimum.  Almost screwed the night up, but it survived and I think they still do it.

If I remember rightly the weatherspoons pub took everything to a quid.  Probably made them the most profitable pub in the chain for a while.

 I blame the younger generation....by which I mean anyone <40, OK like any rule there are a few exceptions, but their lifestyle decisions don't fit into the traditional pub set up.

 Firstly there are too many lightweights, who prefer to drink wine and stuff while playing PS 2 and wii etc in their bedrooms whilst still living at home.

 This means traditional pub games like darts, crib, shovehalfpenny and quoits are hard to find.

 The shortage of serious drinkers means that there are a lack of replacements in locals, when the hardcore, go to meet the great brewer in the sky...which tends to happen with alarming regularity.

 Secondly, spending too much time watching soaps and reality TV shows means this generation receive their social life rather than living it...the pub always being the traditional hub of social intercourse..gor blimey Mrs Jones...how's your Bert's lumbago...mustn't grumble.

 Thirdly, the change in role of women in society means that this generation of men are more "under the thumb" gone are the days when the man after a hard days work goes down the pub for some manly banter about football and stuff. No, now it's ante-natal clinics, Nivea for Men and I might be allowed out for the Chelsea match at Wetherspoon's, if I buy her a new kitchen.

Adje's and Gazza's points are intersting and relate to the example of Tesco's I gave on another thread.  If people don't use them, then they don't succeed.  If people prefer to spend less and visit a "soulless" establishment, then it suggests the original reason for attending the "local" wasn't because it was a local.  I don't visit my local because it's awful.  I visit a Spoons if I'm planning on being in Town for drinking and fancy some cheap stuff for a bit, I would not visit a Spoons just because it was cheap (i'd still have to pay for a taxi over a local).  If everything was about price, then high end restaurants would have collapsed under the weight if McDonalds, but instead they now flourish.

Reg, your points are true, it's a shame the "local" pubs, by and large, haven't done anything about it.  Sure, overall there would be less in the same image as each other but there is certainly a market out there for booze, it's about finding a way to get people in your booze distribution site.  The Sheild and Dagger aalways looked quite busy on football days when I would visit with my Dad, he's now moved and the Clifton is his new establishment of choice.  It appealed directly to a specific group of people - cheap Sunday lunches for the OAP's and rough as sandpaper bar with TV's, meat raffles etc etc for the rough and ready rogues who attended (my Dad's pint would be served by the time he'd walked past a 2nd window)

My local is owned by a pub company so it makes no difference to me either way.

Reg, Adding on from your point: antoher thing to blame is MOBILE PHONES, EMAIL ETC.

People used to meet at pubs to chat etc face to face, the drinking was more social. now all someone has to do is text or use facebook etc to have convos. Where as mobiles etc have changed lives for the better and easier business wise, They have killed other parts of social living. My Nan says the same thing "NO ONE TALKS FACE TO FACE ANYMORE" all you need to do is chat on facebook.

Even to an example this forum, no one says gets together now to plan away days, just do it all online meet up, go and thats it, admittedly those people may move on to the pub but you get my drift....

True but that is down to quality etc... Now one may argue where you go to Wetherspoons you normally dont get a lively pint than say if you go to the Dolphin you get a lively pint (in  more ways than one) but people still go to wetherspoons as its cheap. Same with food at Wetherspoons I hardly go there and get hot quality food. Dont think I've ever had a hot breakfast there where as a traditional pub like the black horse at Liddington, lively pint, good food and hot .

 Its a good point Gazza....I did think of including the mobile in my list of reasons.

Is that why Wetherspoons are often frequented by middle aged hags and old men as well? If people's criteria for a night in the pub is cheap booze then they'll find a cheap place to drink. It doesn't matter how old they are.

I wouldn't blame a generation of people, I'd blame the price of alcohol to start with. There are other activities that cost a lot less than going to the pub. A night out in town is as dead as I ever saw it. It is, quite frankly, pants. People old and young stay in and watch the same shit on telly or go round a mates which they can afford to do.

In light of this the pub industry had to do something - and decorating their pubs in generic fashion seemed the answer. Mainly because given the choice, people will choose a tidier pub over a shabby shithole if the prices were comparible. My local became one of these generic places a few years back. It's still a bit crappy, mainly because despite the update, the clientelle never changed.

The price of booze has gone up rediculous amounts over the years. I remember when I'd grumble about paying £3 for a pint because it was rediculously expensive. Now it seems the norm. I'll marvel at the price when a generic pint of beer comes to less than £2.80, proclaiming "that's not bad, is it?"

I'm sure some of you old boys will go on to tell me of the days of buying bitter with old money, but I'm sure the story will still be the same.

Gazza, those pubs who can offer the alternatives will be the ones who do ok anyway.  It's the places that serve up rubbish at higher prices with no compelling reasons for those local to it that suffer.  Liden Arms always looks busier than the Crumpled Horn near me, and the Sun busier still.  Liden caters for those directly around it whereas the Crumpled went on a spree of simply annoying everyone who live near it for a bit, as well seemingly having Kareoke every night.

crumpled is my local rob.i went in once after moving to the area and aint returned.a fucking shit hole.

The Sun Inn is quite nice these days arriba. The brewery seem to have done up almost all of their pubs in Swindon over the last 10 years or so.

yeah i go in there a bit.pricey though

I've used the Crumpled twice since moving to Eldene nearly 4 years ago.  It's a sad state of affairs when I've used the Shield and Dagger more in the same period.  Shame really, it's an odd little building that should lend itself to offering something quite cosy, instead it just disgusts.

i hope it gets demolished, and a chain pub does something there.the felt roof,odd design,and more importantly the dregs that drink in there are enough for me to steer clear.it's struggling from what i've heard, and is only a matter of time before it's boarded up.

I think the Worthington in Nythe has shut now? Is that right?

Part of the problem has to be the switch to 'premium lager' i.e. the mass-brewered, cold fizz. Not that there is anything wrong with drinking them - I'm not being all CAMRA here - more that you can get them anywhere and that they are exactly the same wherever you drink - condition doesn't matter. So price is the only thing that is taken into account... It's the same at home as it is in the pub - and cheaper.

The only pubs doing remotely well at the moment are the mass-discounters and the high-end real-ale freehouses who can provide drinks that no-one else can.

I always use the same exampls and agree.

THE CHECK INN WROUGHTON - Real Ales sed by real beer drinkers, Had european lagers like Urdinger, Bitburger, Pilsner Urquell, Staropramen etc etc was booming under the old ownership of Doug Watkins. Was taken over by Fullers and they killed it. Prices went up about 60p a pint all guest ales bar 2 dissapeared and Carling, Stella, Kronenbourg replaceed Urdinger etc.

NOW the place has lost about 70% of its clientelle and I went there the other day and 3 out of 4 lagers were sold out. My favourite pub killed by Fullers.

Yep or it had been for a while. I went passed the other day and it looked as if it was open though!. It's a dive now days though.

I agree with Arriba & Rob about the Crump. Its a hole and needs some change.

Now a days? the Worthington has been a dive for as long as I can remember, same could be said for the Crump and Liden Arms.

Shitholes the lot of them!

The last time I actaully went there was when I was about 10. I wouldn't go to any of them now if you paid me!

That was my uncles pub until he sold it,he used to go all over europe to taste the beer/ales etc,before bringing them back.

Fullers offered him extortionate money that he could't turn down,that was a right heap when he took that over, and it took us weeks to clean that place up.

My local pub's are either the Toot & Whistle or The Harvester. Being predispositioned to not wanting to be stabbed, I choose to drink at home.

My local is the Famous Ale House its on its 5th Landlord/Landlady in as many years punctuated with periods of being closed completely.Id say only 1 of those people has had a clue and she walked out out knowing that it would never make money.Apperently there were 15 people in there NYE,its been reopened a month and the writing is already on the wall.Not helped by irregular opening hours and weird tasting beer.I believe its a S&N Pub and when i looked on their website the projected profits they had on there must have estimated by Sandy Gray.

'Tis indeed a Scottish & Newcastle boozer. Haven't been down there in years infact didn't even know it was re-open. I know last time I was there the lager tasted like beer line cleaner!

Think it is, looks that way anyway.

Who owns the messenger in Covingham?? They have the same menu as the Woodlands Edge by me so I would assume they are owned by the same company.

They are company owned now as the company gave my Dad's cousins in London the contract to do the windows when they were changed.

The Woodlands Edge over Peatmore is a suprisingly good pub...good varietys of Beer and when ive been in for a pint it seems to have a good atmosphere......should imagine its the same chain Tails.

Not with a brick i hope Chick!

Food's a bit hit and miss there I find.

Ha ha, I'd hope not!

shag them?

 Messenger is Greene King...think the other place is as well, along with the Merlin, harvester and Beehive

Pardon?

ignore me, im a twat