Tynemouth Lodge Hotel

Clear pricing must be displayed for all food and drink on sale and in the room in which it is consumed.

The price list must include the following :

· The price of the food and drink

· The quantity in which the drink is sold, e.g. 25ml spirits or pint of beer

· The strength of the alcoholic products, e.g. Draught Bass 4.4% abv

· The price of each measure, if  not priced proportionately, e.g. £2.75 per pint / £1.60 half pint. (Sadly, this practice is not illegal.)

· Any service charge must  be clearly displayed

Beer, lager and cider can only be sold in 1/3 pint, ½ pint or pint.

Beer may not be sold in metric measures such as litres and yet the licensee must purchase his draught alcohol in metric quantities, e.g. 50 lt. Fosters Lager, courtesy of our masters in Brussels.

Common sense would dictate that pubs should be allowed to sell the likes of Warsteiner German lager beer in traditional litre glasses.

If metered dispense is not used (and it is a rare sight these days), the glasses used for the above draught products must be stamped with a crown mark and may be either brim measure or outsized lined glasses.

Under a Code of Practice between the brewing industry and the Government, 5% head of froth is permitted in a glass. However, if the customer asks for a top up, this wish should be complied with and without question.

If lined glasses are used, this should negate the top up factor, but it is actually illegal to serve over-measure and could theoretically push a customer ‘over the limit’.

In practice it is very difficult exercise to pull a pint of real ale to a line if tight ‘Northern creamers’ are used on the beer nozzles.   A common sight in a busy pub is a pint of ale settling ever so slowly to eventually settle well below the line, by which time the barperson is a distant memory.

Common malpractice is for bar staff to pull the real ale as fast as possible, leading to short measure on a grand scale, but great for the bar profits.

Gin, whisky, rum and vodka may only be sold in 25ml and 35ml measures and multiples thereof.

Wine is most commonly served in 175ml and 250ml lined glasses in pubs, which is a bit silly, as neither is a ‘small’ glass.

Legally, wine must be sold either by the bottle, by the glass in 125,175 or 250ml sizes, or by the carafe in 250ml, 500ml, 750ml or litre quantities.

However, a new mandatory code is coming into play in the near future that states that in addition to any other measures sold, wine MUST be offered in 125ml measure, this being equivalent to about 1 unit of alcohol. It is also a sane measure for using in ‘wine and soda’ which is  a very popular slimmers’ drink !

Under the Trade Descriptions Act, all written descriptions of products must be accurate.

It is illegal for instance to use a branded spirit optic with the wrong name on it or to describe frozen chips as ‘home-made’.

Under the Business Names Act, if the licensee trades under a name other than their own, it must be displayed in a prominent position on the premises, such as on the price lists and menus.

The above legislation is enforced by local Councils.

First offences would perhaps only merit a verbal warning.

Hugh Price, FBII.

Background :

*  Firstly, accept the fact that small traditional pubs are essential talking shops for local communities. They are often the only place where the local populace mingles and discusses local and national issues and are at the very heart of a village or urban area.

They are also an essential and an envied aspect of our national heritage and need protecting.

* Accept the fact also that some retailers are selling alcoholic products irresponsibly, often at little over cost price or as a lost leader and that alcohol purchased in a supermarket can easily be passed on to under-age drinkers.

By contrast, small public houses sell their produce at realistic prices in a tightly controlled environment.

Sadly, some of the large managed pub chains have seen fit to sell their products too cheaply, thereby shutting down smaller competitors and fuelling the national binge drinking culture.

If anyone is in any doubt as to who is fuelling the big increase in under-age drinking and the increase in alcohol-related diseases, on the one hand look at the record number of public houses and private members’ clubs that are closing and on the other look at the huge exponential increase in the amount of precious shelf space devoted to the sale of alcohol in our supermarkets. Pubs are not the culprits.

Remedy :

Introduce a minimum price for alcoholic products such as beers, ciders, wines and alcopops.

Suggest the following index-linked regime :

No minimum price for alcohol free products.

Up to 3% alcohol – £1.50 per 500 ml (or pint)

Up to 4% alcohol – £2.00 per 500 ml      “

Up to 5% alcohol – £2.50 per 500  ml     “

Over 5%  alcohol – £3 per 500 ml           “

Wines – £5 minimum per bottle.

This will prevent the supermarkets and big pub chains from selling alcohol at giveaway prices and create a more level playing field for small pubs.

No ‘deals’ permitted such as ‘2 4 1’, etc.

*   Get utility prices down to realistic levels by leaning on the utility companies.

Commercial gas and electricity prices have spiralled out of control, even when wholesale prices have been plummeting, and have put many clubs and pubs out of business.

*  Abolish Business Rates for small businesses with turnover less than £1m.

Business Rates are nothing other than a tax on jobs.

This will also assist the small free houses to compete with the multiples.

*  Introduce a lower rate of duty on draught beers and ciders, as these products are not sold in supermarkets, only in an age-regulated environment.

* Abolish the tenanted ‘tie’, other than for pubs owned by breweries, then only on own-brewed products.

Make it an offence for a brewery with tied houses to sell ‘tied’ products cheaper to the free trade, thereby undercutting their own tenants.

* Return licensing to the Magistrates.

Since local councils reluctantly took over licencing, cost to a licencee has risen from a nominal sum to several hundred pounds annually and the standard of service is infinitely worse than that dispensed by the Clerk to the Licencing Justices, who was a legally qualified individual.

The Magistrates looked after licensing successfully for over 800 years until the Blair administration handed it over to the councils.

It was change for change’s sake.

* Introduce a more benign tax regime to encourage growth of businesses large and small and to attract huge inward investment into the UK.

Corporation Tax should be a flat 10%.

Ditto Income Tax, with no tax payable on first £10,000 (this looks like it is going to get implemented).

These tax levels would benefit the whole of the British economy and get the country back to work.

* Finally, be the first administration in this country to accept that the public is watching too much television to the detriment of many other more useful activities, including (well down the list) visiting local pubs.

Perhaps a government recommendation of no more that 2 hours of television per day would be in order, as our citizens are now spending more time glued to the television than those of any other EU country.

Hugh Price

Director

Tynemouth Lodge Hotel Limited