£5 glass of wine

Felicity

Exactly for that reason we chose to have our wedding at a country house (not hotel) and paid for a bar service to be set up.

Our caterers told us they could inflate the prices to help pay for it. No thanks!!! We wanted all our guests to drink and be merry without getting into debt!

We went to France for the bubbly and wine for the tables too. We were determined not to have a wedding with 'one free SMALL glass of champers on the way in, all future drinks at stupid prices'!

Needless to say, a good day had by all!!!! :beer: Hic!

Felicity

Exactly for that reason we chose to have our wedding at a country house (not hotel) and paid for a bar service to be set up.

Our caterers told us they could inflate the prices to help pay for it. No thanks!!! We wanted all our guests to drink and be merry without getting into debt!

We went to France for the bubbly and wine for the tables too. We were determined not to have a wedding with 'one free SMALL glass of champers on the way in, all future drinks at stupid prices'!

Needless to say, a good day had by all!!!! :beer: Hic!

Felicity

Oops, double post. Hic, obviously still recovering!

freebird65

Hey LA

I completely agree with you - it is a blatant rip-off, especially as an ex-barmaid I know what they buy the stuff in for. The thing is, many Londoners tend not to drink at these places uless forced and then we'll just nurse one drink unless it's a rich boss's tab!! It's no defence, but the bars also have to pay staggering business rates, lease costs etc to the councils and whoever, which all have to be covered before they make any money.

There are plenty of bars and restaurants where you can have fab nights out and meals for a lot less....and that's where I can be found!

LookingAhead

I feel somewhat enlightened about the drinking habits of those in da Smoke!

zappomatic

Drinking in London needn't be expensive. Even in central London (West End, on the Thames) it's easy enough to get a £1.70 pint (and I don't just mean Wetherspoon or Goose pubs!), if you know where to go. You can't tell from the outside whether or not a pub will be cheap or expensive either.

Poppy9

I paid £17 for 2 glasses of wine and a pint of lager at The Marriot when we had our works Xmas party. Needless to say we limited our drinking there and left asap to go to cheaper pubs where we drank plenty:D

Not going there for Ofice Xmas lunch this year we are off to a Rugby Club!!:beer:

gerretl

My local TGI's is the biggest rip off. It is right next to work, so great for an after work pint.
Thing is often, the draught (£3. per pint) miraculously goes off, because 'the barrel is empty' All you can buy is bottled Stella, £2.00 for a crappy bottle, works out at £5 per pint. Many a time have I said 'I'll have a water'.
I may report them to the licensing officer, because I am sure that not providing draught breaks the terms of their licence. Any licencing officers out there got any in depth knowledge?

Mark7799

Another new trick I've seen (first time in a hotel near Heathrow) was lager at £2.40 per pint but £1.60 for a half pint. (Only time I've made DW drink pints all night!)

surfcat

The marksups on beer/wine can't be as bad as soft drinks. Most local pubs round here charge about £2 for a pint of coke/lemonade, compared to £2.30 for lager.

Now last time I ran a bar (although 4 years ago) soft drinks mixers were about £16 (excl vat) for 10 litres of syrup. This 10 litres makes 60 litres product, so you're looking at 26p per litre break-even (or 15p/pint). Of course, you need to add vat, staff costs and some profit margin, but still, that in no way equates to £2.