Forum Topic

Beer Prices

I had a real shock tonight. I went into my local Fullers pub (the Red Lion on the South Ealing Road near the film studios) to discover that it was charging £3.70 for a pint of Stella Artois. This should be compared with £2.90 at the Sir Michael Balcon (Weatherspoons) pub on the Mall next to Young's vets. I strongly recommend checking the price of beer (and wine!) at Fullers pubs in Ealing before purchasing.

Mark Maytree ● 5880d68 Comments

Weatherspoons pubs are always cheaper, but there isn't any music and the customers are often the worse for wear.  Pubs operate on a slim margin which is why so many are closing due to falling customers.Given thta the price of six 500ml cans of beer will be about £5, the running costs must be extremely high.

G Lord ● 5880d

I suspect the corporate overheads and shareholders dividends combined with pure greed have a lot to do with it. I have done some research and have found that the Rose and Crown (another Fullers pub) a little further down the South Ealing Road is charging £3.50 compared with the Red Lion (which has no music and the customers are really rather unpleasant) which seems to be a more normal Fullers price. The Rose and Crown also does free live jazz on Wednesday nights. If you proceed further down the road you hit Roddy's pub at the Popes Lane Junction which sells Stella at £3.10. Fullers have been hiking up their prices massively in the past year to ridiculous levels.I think the reasons that pubs are closing is a) they are too expensive (it costs 20p a pint to make beer), b) they are poorly run, and c) the staff in general are terrible having succumbed to the general "everyone is a manager with the job title of assistant manager". Basically, there is little to attract the consumer, the "service" element that one used to pay for in restaurants is totally lacking and the pub companies are run by accountants.

Mark Maytree ● 5880d

Do you think the smoking ban has anything to do with it pubs closing?Been a while since I frequented pubs as my work tends to keep me busy, but pubs are places where adults do things which are bad for them, like drinking and smoking.What great research though fella, you are a true beer hero.

G Lord ● 5880d

Whilst I am not a smoker and never have been, I can see that this is probably one of the reasons so many pubs are closing down. People go to a pub to relax, not to be lectured at and basically not being able to do something like smoking is an infringement of civil liberties. Perhaps smoking could be reintroduced but only in places that had more than adequate air filtration systems. Not everyone wants to spend an evening outside in inclement weather.The more "upmarket" the pub or bar is the more expensive the drinks are - there shold be a set price for all drinks.

J Smith ● 5880d

Of course the smoking ban has alot to do with it, i don't smoke, but i was totaly opposed to an outright smoking ban. It was a step to far. Funny how when banning the burka is mentioned we're told 'it's just not british to ban things'. But no such problem when they banned smoking.

Marie Shelly ● 5880d

The Pub companies are just too greedy and there are perhaps too many pubs competing with cafes and other places of leisure. also the cost base for many tentanted pubs is cruel on the landlords as they find that they can not make money. There are many people who want to run a pub but when it comes down to it that idea is exploited by the pub companies and 4 years down the line you leave bankrupted and wiser. the world has changed and smoking was only a small part of that change. there were people like my late girlfriend who could not go to a pub before that. If pubs and restaurants had embraced no smoking rooms and areas then we may not have needed change. Asking for a non smoking table and then getting a person who smokes plonked next to you is not much fun when health reasons dictate that you do not want that. Freedom to smoke yes, but not near me.

Peter Chadburn ● 5879d

Ban supermarkets from selling alcohol and heavily regulate the times that off licences can sell it.That will also sort out street drinking.Make it so that people have to go to the pub for a pint.More/busier pubs will then bring the price of your pint down.

Tony Luckhurst ● 5879d

But also true competition so that Pubs can get the beer in cheaper wholesale

Peter Chadburn ● 5878d

I wholehertedly agree, Peter and others the brewers are overcharging. Our local brewer Fullers is I think one of the worst offenders. Fullers have produced great profits but filthy toilets, weak exclusion policies, garbage pseudo gastopub food and a near absolute ban on guest beers have pushed me away to excellent independents like Pitshanger's Village Inn (Duffy's) and the EPT.There is no place for smoking in pubs because the fumes and smell always invade the air of non smokers.

John Perkins ● 5876d

Mate of mine yesterday paid 7 euros for half a beer in an average bar in Brussels.

Keith Iddon ● 5876d

'there is no place for smokers in pubs'Of course there is (or should be) if you didn't like pubs where smoking was allowed then you could go to a non smoking pub. why should everyone do what suits you? and yes I know there wasn't as many non smoking pubs as smoking but thats because the publicans knew they'd lose trade if they banned it and guess what they have! Smokers used to enjoy a beer and a cigarette now half the time they cant be bothered, it's not enjoyable to have to stand outside,. And by the way i don't smoke. There was a case for a smoking ban in some places, other than those it should be an adults choice what they do.

Marie Shelly ● 5876d

To be honest after years of getting bad throats and being unable to enjoy decent air in pubs, I could not care less. I remember in the US that the extraction just pulled the crap air out. With heaters etc.. the pub gardens contain smokers. It is the greed of Pubcos and the fact that perhaps the pub has more competition from cheap booze imports and supermarkets that is killing pubs. Pubs were in trouble long before the smoking ban. It is economics and changing behaviour that are big factors. Some restaurants were appalling in their treatment of non-smokers. They did not care so why feel sorry for them. There have been many people who for the last few years a pub trip would be a luxury. To pay for a pint in a pub as much as for a six pack in a supermarket has forced many people to adjust their priorities. Yes drink at home and have a ciggie. We have cafes and many other places to meet friends these days. So a good question would be "Has the Pub had it's day?"

Peter Chadburn ● 5876d

I know pubs were in trouble befor the smoking ban but that did lessen trade and to say it didn't have an effect simply isn't true. I also know that some pubs/bars charge extortianate prises, but it everyones choice wether or not to drink in them. If you suffered years of bad throats why did you keep going back to them? you had a choice not to! You also had a choice what restaurants to eat in I wouldn't eat anywhere that treated me appallingly, for any reason, why keep going back for more? I hope you don't drive a car or, god forbid, fly, just think of all those asthmatics you're affecting. or is it ok as long as it doesn't bother you?

Marie Shelly ● 5876d

Some pubs used to have a no smoking area, more often than not it was empty.Said it before, but pubs are places where adults go to do things that are bad for them, smoking included.  It was all part of pub life.

G Lord ● 5876d

The main problem with restaurants was that some would even if they did not have an official no smoking area listen to requests and put people in a good place accordingly. My girlfriend who was on Oxygen appreciated this. La tasca was good for that. Others would seat you at a table then plonk smokers next to you. Even though they could see that my girlfrind was on Oxygen they did not care. We used to have to go out early to be able to eat. The day it all changed we were on holiday and had a little pub crawl!! The smoking ban meant that after that we could socialise like normal people and enjoy it. Kathy died last year but when we could we got out and enjoyed life.

Peter Chadburn ● 5876d

It is cheaper to buy a pint of Pride or a Guinness in the City of London now than it is in Ealing or Brentford.Fullers pubs have gone from being often great local pubs with proper tenant landlords to really poor managed pubs.Bar food is overpriced and little better than something the missus pulls out of the freezer in an emergency.But the prices Fullers are forcing their managers, tenants and tied landlords to charge is disgusting and damaging.They are on the spiral of overcharging to the detriment of the public house trade.A route that several other brewery business have taken.Most turned their back on thier core business and focused on the assets of property. Fullers along with Trumans and Courage have and have had huge portfolios of property and in these days of fiscal greed and short term gain, the bean counters are forcing the company to up income to retain feasibility of pubs matched against it's development potential.I'm an avid non smoker with a lifelong allergy to cigarette smoke, but I don't support the ban either. I would have far preffered exemptions if extraction or separate smoking areas are integrated.But on the other hand girlfreinds and others who would not go near pubs for the acrid smoke now go. The real problem now is none of us, even of a reasonable salary can even afford a round of drinks let alone two!It really is time for a government enquiry into the methods of the pub trade.Landlords are blackmailed into a corner with their livelihoods threatened and prices are fixed. Freehouses are only a reality for a disposable capital venture and the customer is losing out.The trade calls foul over supermarket prices.Binge drinking is rife, but the quiet public house where one can enjoy a drink chat and a haven from screaming kids and moaning partners is almost extinct.

Michael Brandt ● 5876d

Well put. Fullers years ago were a real exception but now they are as greedy as the rest. So when you line up the pubcos and supermarkets what do you find. Access to government and therefore more of the same. The very legislation that was meant years ago to clean up the pub industry and help competition is the very thing that is destroying competition. I suppose we should all drink in Sam Smiths (Great prices even off traflger square) or true independants and kill the greedy pubcos.

Peter Chadburn ● 5876d

Where is a local Sam Smiths?

Graham Weeks ● 5876d

Richmond rose of york. i often go to chandos just of trafalger square.

Peter Chadburn ● 5876d

Nearest Sam Smith's is the Town Wharf at Old Isleworth.

Keith Iddon ● 5875d

Perhaps an investigative trip might be an idea

Peter Chadburn ● 5875d

Sounds like we need a Sam Smiths pub in Ealing (years ago I used to really enjoy Sam Smiths bitter and lager at the Fitzroy Tavern, and the Bricklayers Arms in Central London. Perhaps someone should give them a call and see if their marketing department might be interested in buying the Town House (previously the Feathers) by Ealing Broadway?

Mark Maytree ● 5875d

Sam Smith's Extra Stout is lovely,much more body than Guinness(a highly over-rated drink imo)and stronger too.£2.40 a pint I think.

Keith Iddon ● 5875d

Didn't sam smiths have smoke free pubs in the West end way before legislation?

John Perkins ● 5874d

I've had a quick whizz round 15 other Fullers pubs, all are very expensive.Certainly seems that Fullers are on a deathwish.They seem to have become contemptuous of both their tenant landlords and their customers.One wonders whether a publicised boycott would make their directors sit up and smell the coffee or should that be hops?!!

Michael Brandt ● 5874d

I've had a quick whizz round 15 other Fullers pubs, all are very expensive.Certainly seems that Fullers are on a deathwish.They seem to have become contemptuous of both their tenant landlords and their customers.One wonders whether a publicised boycott would make their directors sit up and smell the coffee or should that be hops?!!

Michael Brandt ● 5874d

When excellent I think draught ale served in a good pub is the finest of drinks, I love Adnams, Hogs back, St Austell, Hop back, Twickenham , even Green King, but Fullers, and I've tasted them all many times, I guess I must be missing something but to me their ales are insipid, lacking in depth and just not worth drinking.I frequently meet friend in a local Fullers pub and always drink lager. 

John Perkins ● 5874d

I don't mind their Summer Lightening and London Porter in bottles.The best pint of Pride I've ever had(or should I say the best 10 pints I've ever had!) were quaffed at the Stripes Bar.I am not a lover of Pride but it really was good that night,more like a northern pint of old(not creamflow)with the 'belgian lace' head still at the bottom of the glass when the pint was finished...

Keith Iddon ● 5874d

I do not think a boycott will be necessary. Bankruptcy will probably follow. Most Fuller' pubs I've been in treat their customers like rubbish and some like the Red Lion in South Ealing are just nasty to everyone.Vote with your feet. Plenty of other fish in the sea (I mean pubs). I am not sure that the directors of Fullers would understand a boycott (from the ones that I have encountered). They are not interested in customer care or customer retention.

Mark Maytree ● 5872d

The Kent and Drayton Court have pleasant service.

Graham Weeks ● 5872d

Good to here that, though a little bit of a trek for me to get to. Perhaps Fullers could rotate some of the staff from the Drayton Court and the Duke of Kent to the Red Lion?

Mark Maytree ● 5871d

In the 80's and early 90's the Red Lion in St. Mary's Road had to be one of the best pubs in London if not the UK. Then it was a small pub with pictures from Ealing studios festooned all over the wall and it's 'secret'name of stage 6!.Who can remember the fabulous Hot Sausage special ? Never matched anywhere.And to top it all a landlord and lady and staff who were par excellance.We went in recently and whilst it has been extended and changed what really disappointed was the staff attitude. Overpriced average food, poor beer but still better than some. But the manager/landlord ? Oh Dear! How someone with no people skills at all and a rude condascending attitude to all but his 'friends' gets to be a "publican' is weird.Noticeable now that Fullers have clones just like him in a lot of their pubs now.It is like the dark side has taken over Fullers, that the brewer has evolved into everything they stood not to be.The Rose and Crown is still pretty good but we now use the pubs less and less, It's not just the overpricing but the atmosphere fickle. Pay your money drink your drink, and get out.

Oliver Gregan ● 5871d

Odd - we don't go to pubs very often but sometimes to the Red Lion where I've found all the staff, including the landlord to be perfectly pleasant.

Penny Crocker ● 5871d

I took two old friends who had emigrated back to the pub they loved. Along with their favourite curry house, these were the two highlights of their reunion trip home.The Red Lion had changed, but not too much as to be unfamiliar.This was 3 years ago and the then manager managed to not only spoil the visit bus almost caused a breach of the peace.One friend dared to complain about a short measure, then notice his pint of ESB had bits in it.  He argued that it 'was meant to be like that' and would not replace it. It took a long discussion to replace a pint.The other dared to ask if the legendary Hot Sausage Special was available? He was confronted with 'If you want to take the piss, F*** off out of my pub, We only do gourmet food here,".  Nice.Half an hour later in the garden he then asked us to move as our 'noise' -ordinary 'Compo Clegg and Foggy' like conversation was interferring with his party of friends.He was rude and wholly unprofessional and in one hour destroyed everything we had collectively revered about that Pub which we had known all our lives and frequented regularly between 1977 and 2000.  I've never been back, and I doubt that my friends will ever want to.Someone please tell me this is not the same management today.

Michael Brandt ● 5871d

I took two old friends who had emigrated back to the pub they loved. Along with their favourite curry house, these were the two highlights of their reunion trip home.The Red Lion had changed, but not too much as to be unfamiliar.This was 3 years ago and the then manager managed to not only spoil the visit bus almost caused a breach of the peace.One friend dared to complain about a short measure, then notice his pint of ESB had bits in it.  He argued that it 'was meant to be like that' and would not replace it. It took a long discussion to replace a pint.The other dared to ask if the legendary Hot Sausage Special was available? He was confronted with 'If you want to take the piss, F*** off out of my pub, We only do gourmet food here,".  Nice.Half an hour later in the garden he then asked us to move as our 'noise' -ordinary 'Compo Clegg and Foggy' like conversation was interferring with his party of friends.He was rude and wholly unprofessional and in one hour destroyed everything we had collectively revered about that Pub which we had known all our lives and frequented regularly between 1977 and 2000.  I've never been back, and I doubt that my friends will ever want to.Someone please tell me this is not the same management today.

Michael Brandt ● 5871d

> smoking is an infringement of civil libertiesYeah, an infringement of my civil liberties - namely the right to not have to breath stinking cigarette smoke when I am out.

Tony Colliver ● 5871d

You could have gone to a non smoking pub, or stayed at home. You had a choice.

Marie Shelly ● 5871d

Unfortunately, I believe it does continue to be as you describe.You are far from the only person with a similar tale to tell regarding the current incumbent of the Red Lion.Oh, and "gourmet food"?  Don't make me laugh!  It's little (and I mean very little) better than standard "pub grub".

Tony Colliver ● 5871d

I rarely drink alcohol and if I do it is in moderation. Obviously there are bad individual pubs but many a time I enjoy a pint of real ale from Fullers and I go to a pub for the location or more likely food and the ambience along with service expectation and do not notice which brewery is which. A place like the Drayton Court ticks all my boxes. I would quote some other names but I am not sure which brewer they feature.  I have no real clue about the price I pay as it is so infrequent. The thing that does get me is the high price of soft drinks which cannot be justified by the fact that a pint of beer contains a lot of tax and water hops and barley.  I also find not many places are keen to work with you to create exotic combinations of soft drink and it now seems one brand of soft drink in bottles is very dominant.

Colin Izzard ● 5871d

I note that The New Inn in South Ealing is selling Stella Artois at £3.90 a pint and Kronenbourg 1664 at £3.60 a pint. My benchmark of Roddy's Sports Bar in South Ealing is holding rock steady at £3.10 for either. I will report on the Fuller's Red Lion Pub in South Ealing (St. Mary's Road) when I go in there next to see whether it still has the most expensive pub pint of Stella Artois in Ealing.

Mark Maytree ● 5814d

So why do you go to the other pubs?  Just stay at Roddy's. No one will probably miss you at the other pubs.

Charles Campbell ● 5814d

Do you have against Irish Pubs Mr Campbell? Roddy's does very good sports coverage. Multiple events on multiple screens and lots of real locals in there.

Fergus Obrien ● 5813d

My son worked all ssummer at our local gastropub and got quite involved. He was surprised and horrified to find out that the pub makes virtually no moeny at all on beer - and is therefore much keener to sell wine, spirits, food or even soft drinks...a pub full of beer -drinkers was seen as a bit of a flop - which made the World Cup season less profitable than it might have been.But no I don't know what they charge per pint (bottle of Prosecco is £18 which is better than most places!)

Sara Nathan ● 5813d

I must say a word in the defence of Fullers Pubs... I drink in the Rose and Crown in South Ealing. It is very pleasant and moderately priced (between the £3.10 and £3.90 figures that I have seen here). The food is good and it is not a gastropub, it positions itself as a pub that does good food. It is not a sports pub, which is a reason why I go there.

Charles J McGregor ● 5813d

This is it as the landlords with their brewery deals do not make much money at all.

Peter Chadburn ● 5813d

We drink in The Drayton Court (Fullers) on Wednesdays as it has plenty of space for a crowd after rehearsals.  It's expensive but very pleasant (it does get a bit noisy and crowded at the weekend).  On Thursdays we drink in the Sir Michael Balcon(Weatherspoons), which is also pleasant, where there is always a choice of good real ale and the price of a round brings a smile to our faces. I like the Wheatsheaf too but it is very expensive and the Rose and Crown is lovely and has some interesting events.

Jane Salisbury ● 5812d

The Rose and crown is a fantastic pub, Aspalls on tap - yummy! Good food, variety of drinks and welcoming staff, and best of all - its practically in my back garden!

Kelly Cornfield ● 5812d

I took will stand up for the Rose and Crown in South Ealing (next to St Mary's Church). At the moment it has a very fine seasonal Fullers Brewery beer called "Bengal Lancer" which is only available during November. It costs £3.30 a pint.

Jeff Belsen ● 5794d

I suppose nobody will be interested in my report of a sighting in Cheadle (Stoke-on-Trent) last week then?A pub there is advertising several ales - all at £1.65 or less per pint!(No? I thought not. I'll get my coat.)

Tony Colliver ● 5794d

Had Bengal lancer in the 'Duke of Kent' this evening, £3.45/pint. Most agreeable ale.

Alan Brainsby ● 5793d

Wow! I see you mean about the Red Lion. They seem to feel that their super-high prices put them above being nice to their customers. Some tall, old, guy working in there seems to get really worked up if you dare complain!Amazed to find that ASDA was doing pretty good bitter at 85p for four tins. So I guess the other £3.50 that the Red Lion overcharges are for the free gratuitous insults from the staff!

Jeff Belsen ● 5765d

Jeff,'...pretty good bitter in tins..'is an contradiction in terms,imo.

Keith Iddon ● 5763d

Myself and a few associates went to the red Lion this week for an annual pre christmas get together.I wish I had read this thread before. Rude staff, an awful manager/landlord, poor food, poor portions and hugely expensive.I was embarrassed taking blue chip clients there, one of whom is in the victuallers trade. He was not impressed but not surprised as he said this is the sort of route Fullers have chosen to take. He feels it is the start of the end of Fullers and it is part of a drive to push up profits to sell out for big money.We all remembered this pub from our youth and in hindsight would have been better to have stayed away t remember it that way- one of the best proper pubs in the land.And still could be given the right ingredients.

Oliver Gregan ● 5763d

I do not mean to be unpleasant or patronising in any way though I think that you should be aware that all Fullers' bitters arrive in large aluminium ones in the form of barrels that hold somewhere between forty and fifty pints, sometimes with a touch of nitrogen to help keep them fresh. Pretty much the whole Fullers range is also available in "nitro keg" form for more distant locations. Furthermore, I have been told that some of Fullers' bitters use genetically modified (GM) hops imported in pelletted form from America.Food for thought, maybe.

Maggie Tomlinson ● 5763d

Maggie,All cask beer is out into aluminium kegs for transportation as there are too few wooden casks left and they are very expensive to replace,if yiu can find someone who knows how to do it.I have never been a fan of Fuller's beer,nor their prices.The best Fuller's Beer is the bottled London Porter,imho.

Keith Iddon ● 5763d

Yes, but it is what it tastes like that matters.And Fullers, in a pub with a decent landlord that knows how to actually look after beer, still rates as one of the best when served properly.

Tony Colliver ● 5763d

Fullers Beers seem to be only good if they are well cellared ( I think that's the phrase!)Well kept and served they can be superlative.Locally , The Castle, Wheatsheaf , Lord Nelson, Globe, Griffin and Watermans Arms and the Brewery Tap have all been consistently good for decades.The daddy of them all was the Red Lion in St. Mary's rd. But this has come down a lot. Nasty fizzy tasting beer with bits in. Ugggh!

Oliver Gregan ● 5763d

It's all a matter of taste,obviously.We'll have to agree to disagree on Fuller's.

Keith Iddon ● 5763d

I was driving past the Wishing Well pub in Greenford when I noticed that they are having a January special that includes Stella Artois at £2.59 a pint. That is over a pound cheaper than the Red Lion in Ealing! What are Fullers playing at?

Maggie Tomlinson ● 5739d

The Plough (Fullers) in Northfields is excellent. Great service/mgt, good food and beer.Always busy. They also do a great BBQ in Summer.

Nick Jenkins ● 5738d

Selling a product from a rival multi-national brewer for a higher price than then beer it brews in Chiswick!

Roy Tunstall ● 5736d

The Plough used to be excellent however it seems to be becoming a sort of "Redback" of South Ealing with endless crowds of late-night teenagers supplemented by just about every vile old git barred from all the other pubs in Ealing propping up the bar.

Luther Brown ● 5710d

Maggie,Fuller's do not do special offers as they are well known to squeeze the pips out of the landlords who run their pubs as well as their punters(allegedly)!

Keith Iddon ● 5709d

97p for four 440ml cans of value bitter at Tesco's in Ealing shopping centre. That is 55.1p per litre at 2.1% alcohol. Quite drinkable for a canned bitter. One sixth the price of Fullers "Chiswick" bitter in my local!

Maggie Tomlinson ● 5707d

I hear CAMRA are looking for new members Maggie  :-)

Keith Iddon ● 5707d

I am not sure that they would approve of my interest in Tesco's canned value bitter! However, I have been known to make my own beer. You can make a "Pride" equivalent for about 20p a pint (or slightly less!).

Maggie Tomlinson ● 5707d

One seventh the price of the Red Lion on St Mary's Road W5. The Sir Michael Balcon remains best value in Ealing anyway.

Charles J McGregor ● 5706d

Good on ya Maggie!Any chance of a sample of your home brew?;-)

Keith Iddon ● 5706d