'Pocket money' drink prices across the UK worry campaigners

[webfact]

'Pocket money' drink prices worry campaigners

 

LONDON: -- Alcohol is being sold at "pocket money" prices across the UK, with products commonly bought by underage drinkers among the cheapest, research by a campaign group suggests.

 

The Alcohol Health Alliance said their findings came despite the government's commitment to tackle the issue.

 

White cider - on sale for as little as 16p per unit of alcohol - was said to be among the drinks bought by children. Ministers say they are continuing to review policies on alcohol harm.

 

-- © Copyright BBC 2016-10-06

[Grouse]

Keep the masses happy

 

otherwise they would be revolting

[phantomfiddler]

And about time ! Pubs have been overcharging to the extent that many people now drink at home, unheard of in the fifties, and a pint of beer now costs 60 (Yes, sixty !) times what was charged when I left U.K. Give the masses what they want :)

[7by7]

Give the masses what they want and suffer the consequences!

 

Number of drunken children in A&E rises sharply

Quote

The number of underage drinkers admitted to hospital in England rose by 32% between 2003 and 2007, from around 11,000 in 2003 to more than 14,000 in 2007, NHS hospital records show. A total of 92,220 children and young people under 18 were admitted to hospital between 2002 and 2009 – or 36 under-18s a day.........

 

Helping children and young people with alcohol problems costs the NHS almost £19m a year, Alcohol Concern estimates. In 2007-08, 64,750 ended up in casualty.

 

Last year (2009) 8,799 under-18s received specialist treatment to tackle drink problems, adds the report, which draws on Freedom of Information answers, parliamentary questions and analysis of NHS statistics.

 

UK A&Es seeing 'drunk children'

Quote

Nearly 300 children aged 11 or under were admitted to A&E units across the UK last year (2012) after drinking too much, a BBC Radio 5 live investigation shows.

 

 

[7by7]

1 hour ago, phantomfiddler said:

And about time ! Pubs have been overcharging to the extent that many people now drink at home, unheard of in the fifties, and a pint of beer now costs 60 (Yes, sixty !) times what was charged when I left U.K. Give the masses what they want :)

 

It's not the pubs; it's the breweries. Tied houses have to charge what the brewery tell them to; free houses have to charge enough to make a profit.

 

The average price of a pint of bitter in a pub is £3.10, a pint of lager is £3.26.(source)

 

Divide those by 60 and you get 5.2p and 5.4p respectively.

 

You must have left the UK a very long time ago! I've been drinking in pubs for over 40 years and can't remember a pint of beer being that cheap. In 1970 it was 20p, but the average weekly wage was £32 (source); you could have bought 160 pints in a pub for that. Today the average weekly wage is £505 (source), which will buy you 162.9 pints of bitter or 154.9 pints of lager in a pub.

 

So the cost of a pint in a pub in proportion to average wages is more or less the same as it was 46 years ago. (I am well aware that many people earn considerably less than the average wage, which counts everyone from part timers on minimum wage to Premier league footballers and upwards; but that was the same in 1970. I started my first full time job with the finance department of my local council in 1971 on the princely salary of £547 p.a., £10.52 p.w.)

 

[soalbundy]

21 hours ago, Grouse said:

Keep the masses happy

 

otherwise they would be revolting

They are revolting

[soalbundy]

If they are serious just raise the VAT on alcoholic drinks,they aren't shy about doing it with cigarettes 

[chiang mai]

14 hours ago, 7by7 said:

 

It's not the pubs; it's the breweries. Tied houses have to charge what the brewery tell them to; free houses have to charge enough to make a profit.

 

The average price of a pint of bitter in a pub is £3.10, a pint of lager is £3.26.(source)

 

Divide those by 60 and you get 5.2p and 5.4p respectively.

 

You must have left the UK a very long time ago! I've been drinking in pubs for over 40 years and can't remember a pint of beer being that cheap. In 1970 it was 20p, but the average weekly wage was £32 (source); you could have bought 160 pints in a pub for that. Today the average weekly wage is £505 (source), which will buy you 162.9 pints of bitter or 154.9 pints of lager in a pub.

 

So the cost of a pint in a pub in proportion to average wages is more or less the same as it was 46 years ago. (I am well aware that many people earn considerably less than the average wage, which counts everyone from part timers on minimum wage to Premier league footballers and upwards; but that was the same in 1970. I started my first full time job with the finance department of my local council in 1971 on the princely salary of £547 p.a., £10.52 p.w.)

 

 

I can recall one shilling and threepence a pint, 1964, big sigh.

Edited October 7, 2016 by chiang mai

[maoro2013]

The prices, at least in Australia, have more to do with the huge excise charges.

 

I worked at a brewery and did the costing. It cost less then AUD18 to manufacture a kilderkin, 18 gallon keg. The selling price to a pub  was AUD100.  Brewery profit about 5%.

[jacko45k]

I am in the UK at the moment and must admit there are very reasonable prices to be found for a pint, perhaps under two pounds, wheras regular pubs it is mostly well above 3. I haven't seen this white cider that is mentioned but believe my brother used to buy it. (GRHS).

The problem seems to be with shops selling it to underaged kids, unlikely to be the pubs or large supermarkets doing this.

[7by7]

9 hours ago, chiang mai said:

 

I can recall one shilling and threepence a pint, 1964, big sigh.

 

I remember a promotion Courage did in the mid 1970s. Not sure if it was nationwide, though.

 

You could buy a pint of Best for 2d; provided you had two old pennies to buy it with!

[7by7]

5 hours ago, jacko45k said:

I am in the UK at the moment and must admit there are very reasonable prices to be found for a pint, perhaps under two pounds, wheras regular pubs it is mostly well above 3. I haven't seen this white cider that is mentioned but believe my brother used to buy it. (GRHS).

The problem seems to be with shops selling it to underaged kids, unlikely to be the pubs or large supermarkets doing this.

 

It is mainly the large supermarkets who sell this stuff at these low prices; but they don't sell it to underage kids.

 

It is not unusual to see young kids hanging around outside supermarkets and other shops selling booze asking adults to buy some for them.

 

Sometimes, unbelievably, it's the parents who buy it for their children!

 

But whoever is at fault; the problem exists and is getting worse.

[7by7]

8 hours ago, maoro2013 said:

The prices, at least in Australia, have more to do with the huge excise charges.

 

I worked at a brewery and did the costing. It cost less then AUD18 to manufacture a kilderkin, 18 gallon keg. The selling price to a pub  was AUD100.  Brewery profit about 5%.

 

The excise duty on beer is based upon the alcoholic content, per hectolitre per cent of alcohol in the beer. So the stronger it is, the higher the duty.

 

For some reason, for cider and perry it's based upon volume, although the higher the alcohol content the higher the rate per hectolitre.

 

So, if I've calculated it right, the excise duty part of the price of a pint, bottle or can of beer is greater than it is for a pint, bottle or can of cider.

 

Alcohol Duty rates from 21 March 2016

[vogie]

23 minutes ago, 7by7 said:

 

I remember a promotion Courage did in the mid 1970s. Not sure if it was nationwide, though.

 

You could buy a pint of Best for 2d; provided you had two old pennies to buy it with!

God you needed courage to drink that beer.