£7.50p a pint. That’s it I’m out

they shouldn't be able to loss lead with alcoholic drinks in this day and age. the duty alone on a pint is about 50p. likewise the supermarkets shouldn't be allowed to do it either.

this is one of the reasons a lot of beer will be appearing at sub 3.5%ABV as the duty will be more like 18p. when you're shifting those quantities, that's a big difference.

We come to class and economics. Pubs, in particular, and alcohol in general are extremely political.
In the 1960s a pint was 10 to 15p, a spirit about 20p. Working people drank beer, middle class spirit. In simple terms. There was a streak of puritanical venom in the labour movement.

Now the ratio of a pint to a bottle of scotch has moved from 1 to 30 to 1 to 5. For no logical reason.

Here you go, first visits with pals into pubs in 1967. Above in bold is totally wrong.
Distinctly recall this: Pint was one shilling and thruppence (1s3d).
Slight variations dependent on what you were drinking, a pint of Guinness was more than a pint of Bitter for example
So 10 to 15p a pint is WAY OUT!!
WIth inflation that 1s3d today is worth £1.38.

And 'working class' did drink spirtits, no idea where you got that nonsense from. Our town had a record for the most number of pubs at one point. Every one of 'em had 'Spirits' on sale, and some pubs were 'rough', most were frequented by 'working people'.

The first pub I ever entered where I actually 'drank alcohol' was with my pals (underage, just) in 1966 in the Nag's Head, as indicated above, one of the very many pubs in our town. Been in plenty of pubs underage before then, but never had the nerve to order alcohol. The Nag's Head had a 'Snug bar' (think it was more an Irish term, but quite a few round here had them or were called 'snug rooms').
We were in the saloon bar this particular Friday evening and there were a couple of really elderly old girl locals in the 'snug'. Both as thin as rakes.

One of them called through a sort of window area to me:
'Hey luv, while you're at bar get me and Maud some drinks, save us gettin up.'
She handed me the money then asked 'What bist that you be drinking?' staring at our line up of pints.
I replied 'Pints of Lager and Lime.'
With a roll of her eyes she said: 'Ya wun't live long drinkin' that stuff. Get yourself what we be havin and keep it in moderaishun.'
(spelling deliberate - some still talk like that round 'ere!).

I simply asked her what they wanted?
'One Mackee, one Guinness, son, bottles, no need for new glasses and a small whiskey.'
As I passed the bottles to them, her friend Maud says to me: 'Annie be 91 tomorra, I be 89 on the Wednesday coming. Tell ya friends to stop drinkin' that rubbish.' While we had several pints they both sat there and had just two bottles each all the time we were in there.

I pondered when mate got the next round. I had my first Guinness that night!
I still recall Annie's death at 99 in the local rag in 1975 (I actually worked where the newspaper was printed) part of the story about this 'local' lady said she swore on her moderation and her 'tot of whiskey every night before bed, as well as her regular Guinness or milk stout Mackeson.'

£21 for a Pint of St Austell Proper Job, a G&T and a Pint of Coke in Lyme Regis last week. Nearly killed the OH for ordering the G&T lol!

That is one of the things for me as well. A good pub might be a £1-2 more expensive per drink, but for a good night out that is worth it. Unless you're drinking to excess then the cost difference isn't significant.

A lot of the Wetherspoons pubs are just large scale drinking dens. They pull in all the stag parties, pre drinkers tanking up and alcoholics as they are the cheap option.

Too much of the antisocial behaviour and drunkenness stems from pubs like Wetherspoons selling too much drink too cheaply.

The cheapest option is obviously drinking at home. When I see some of the venues people choose to spend more than drinking at home, I do wonder truly how bad their home must be.

Paying any markup over supermarket shows to me many are prepared to. Paying twice as much to drink somewhere stter than my front room doesn’t seem as value adding as paying four times as much to be in a nice venue with decent service.

Have you ever been inside one?

I've never had an issue in one.

Of course. They have (maybe I’ve been in 5-10 over my life) almost nothing in common with the experience I want from a pub.

Of course you might find the odd ‘busy mum’ (not in any I’ve been in) but predominantly they’re same sort of crowd in all instances. The only difference seems to be the Airport ones but as my mate called out the other day at Gatwick, everyone there looked like the type to do a gender reveal if they had a kid

But reports from the resident bargain hunters have told us that pints in some of the London ones now are more towards £4 than £2 which I imagine takes the sheen off.

I have been inside a lot of Wetherspoons over the years. I'm sure nearly everyone that drinks or goes out have visited a Wetherspoons. It's not unusual.

You have never witnessed drunkenness or antisocial behaviour at a Wetherspoons? Large pubs selling vast quantities of cheap alcohol and you've never seen any of the all too common issues of alcohol? I find that impossible to believe.

Eldest wanted to go to the pub as youngest was trick and treating.

Went for a couple of diet cokes at the local st pit. £3.05 for a coke. I can understand beer production can be expensive but 3 fking quid for some post mix syrup and fizzy water.

It's annoying as that pub used to be st, but cheap. Now it's just st.