Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 66 total)
  • Buying drinks in a bar: checking prices first
  • allyharp
    Full Member

    How often do you the check prices before ordering in the bar? And if you do happen to ask for something that’s particularly expensive, would you expect the barman to check that you’re aware?

    I have to say it’s never been in my nature to check full prices of everything – and I have had staff check “do you know that’s £xx” – but I might be changing my attitude after I got stung 28 Euros for a single beer last night! This was in Italy with table service so of course I’d already drunk it before seeing the bill!

    To be fair there were plenty of price lists available that we hadn’t seen, but the next most expensive beer was €10, and we had chosen from a chalkboard list that bundled it alongside bog standard Peroni & Tennent’s at €4 each!

    ivornardon2
    Free Member

    But I know to within 50p how much a pint of cider in a Weatherspoons is going to cost.

    So, no. I don’t check.

    Jamie
    Free Member

    This was in Italy

    You paid tourist prices.

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    wrightyson
    Free Member

    I usually have a rough idea what ill be charged as I enter the establishment. And as you were a “Brit abroad” I’d say you were fair game 😐

    zilog6128
    Full Member

    What was the beer? And was it any good?

    irelanst
    Free Member

    Sometimes, my wife occasionally likes a glass of bucks fizz and most places just charge for the glass of champagne but some price it as a champagne cocktail which is usually at least twice the price. We’ve even been to places where it has been cheaper to buy a bottle of champagne and a glass of orange juice than a single drink.

    €28 for a beer is taking the piss – regardless of what it was and where you were.

    allyharp
    Full Member

    La Trappe Quadrupel. A trap indeed! It was good, but not 3 times better than the Dubbel I then got a full pint of for €6.50.

    Very fortunately I hardly ever order “same again please”!

    binners
    Full Member

    Was it brewed with the tears from angels?

    crispo
    Free Member

    It totally depends, if going into a regular pub for a pint will just order without checking. If drinking something more exotic in a bar or restaurant then will have a glance at the price list.

    tonyd
    Full Member

    Lucky you only had one! If that was me I’d have had a skin full, shortly followed by a very angry rant, payment in full, and a march off to the nearest kebab house.

    zilog6128
    Full Member

    I assume it was the “oak aged” version rather than the regular? Bit sneaky by the bar though.

    prawny
    Full Member

    I don’t often as I don’t want to look like the wreck head who’s trying to get pissed as cheap as possible. Even though that’s normally whats happening. I just moan about it when I get back to the table/group.

    A bar in brum tried to charge me £1.75 for a small glass of soda water last christmas. I kicked off then.

    warton
    Free Member

    you’re drinking Belgium Trappist beer, in a terrace bar in rome, it’s not going to be 10 euros is it?

    fasthaggis
    Full Member

    Hard to spot in a busy pub.
    It’s a miracle if you get served .

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    My local has a list of prices for beer, according to the strength. Weak beer? Cheap. Silly strong beer? Very expensive.

    A nice approach, I reckon.

    DrP
    Full Member

    I always do…
    If I get any ‘stick’ from the barpeoples, I offer them the opportunity to check my wallet to ensure I’ve got enough money to pay….and say it’s a good idea to know what hand either of us is holding..!

    DrP

    ste_t
    Free Member

    The only time we tell our customers the price of something is when they order a bitter shandy – as the only one we do is imported from USA and is £5.10 a pint it is a tad pricey for a shandy. No-one has taken offence as yet.

    mafiafish
    Free Member

    I tend to ask as prices seem to have both gone up and become more variable in recent years. I always ask when ordering a whisky as some very similar establishments can have 150% differences in price!

    hora
    Free Member

    When we were in Barcelona we went to a backstreet (nice restaurant/bar) off the Ramblos and all the food prices were there/on the walls even.

    When we got the bill, the beer was 😯

    So I called over the waiter and asked nicely why so much etc. He could kinda see where I was coming from. The manager came over and I asked him if it was a stripbar/stripclub pricing. The waiter was sniggering and the manager was horrified 😆

    Here in Manchester- you can go into a pub with a painted grey wall and painted chairs charging £4 a pint and next door there will be an identical place with carpet charging £2.50 for non-premium beer.

    WHY in deepest urbania should beer be 4quid a pop outside London?!

    mattsccm
    Free Member

    Shandy from the USA!!!
    Now I have heard everything.
    Don’t you just pull half a pint then top it with lemonade?
    You have to be in London!

    bikebouy
    Free Member

    Tourist spots are fair game, you don’t go into them feeling like you are going to get a bargain now do you, or do you?
    Suspect if its the latter you need to understand a couple of simple economic principles, should see you right.

    Florence used to be mental expensive in the Piazza Della Signoria but over the years the cafe owners have cottoned on to the fact that lots of Tourists hack off south of the river and sup beer for 2/3rds the price, it’s still expensive mind so you really only go in there knowing you will pay more don’t you.

    grievoustim
    Free Member

    I’ve had a couple of barman say to me recently – you know that’s £5 a pint?(Peroni, not for me!) I changed the order and got mildly mocked for it back at the table. I don’t see why anyone would pay over the odds for one mass produced lager other another though.

    Luckily all my regular haunts have very reasonably priced ales on tap (£2:99 to about £3:60 a pint, in Brighton)

    hora
    Free Member

    I disagree- tourist spots aren’t fair game. Its deception if you don’t have prices advertised (weird, is it a legal requirement?). Plus (all of us) – how do you know the barman isn’t skimming by adding 50p to the price of your pint?….

    BoardinBob
    Full Member

    WHY in deepest urbania should beer be 4quid a pop outside London?!

    because expensive booze is seen as a (false) sign of affluence? Big pimping, diamond grills, beatches and Cristal. There’s a facebook page devoted to “Grey Goose W*ankers” which is a collection of pictures of absolute roasters showing off with their bottle of Grey Goose in a club.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    What’s Grey Goose ?

    binners
    Full Member

    WHY in deepest urbania should beer be 4quid a pop outside London?!

    Because people will pay it. You charge what the market will tolerate. Apparently the influx of BBC Media types into Manchester has bumped up prices in certain venues to London prices, as thats what their customers are used to paying, so don’t bat an eyelid.

    We popped into Gorilla for a pre-gig pint a few months back, as it was the closest to the Ritz. It was awash with Nathan Barley-a-likes. 2 pints of Peroni? That’ll be £9.60 please. 😯 We didn’t stop for another

    davidtaylforth
    Free Member

    Yup, always check the drinks prices before ordering, then I don’t get stung. The barstaff/other customers don’t always seem too happy when I do this in a busy nightclub though! More fool them for not having a care in the world!

    If there’s a few of us on a night out and we’re buying rounds, I usually keep a running total (on my iPhone, or I pop the receipts in my top pocket) of total spends, then we can share the difference equally at the end of the night.

    scrumfled
    Free Member

    Maybe Im just grouchy, but a few times in london I’ve ordered a pint…. they pull it then pronounce some stupid price and are actually offended when i say no and walk away as they protest “but I’ve pulled it now”.

    Its amusing to see the other sheeple all looking at you in horror too 😉

    weeksy
    Full Member

    If there’s a few of us on a night out and we’re buying rounds, I usually keep a running total (on my iPhone, or I pop the receipts in my top pocket) of total spends, then we can share the difference equally at the end of the night

    No, surely you don’t do that ? please tell me you don’t ?

    So if you were in a group of 5 and then for example moved bars and someone skipped a round, you’d then make someone pay a little more at the end of the night as their round was cheaper than yours ?

    annebr
    Free Member

    davidtaylforth – Member
    Yup, always check the drinks prices before ordering, then I don’t get stung. The barstaff/other customers don’t always seem too happy when I do this in a busy nightclub though! More fool them for not having a care in the world!

    If there’s a few of us on a night out and we’re buying rounds, I usually keep a running total (on my iPhone, or I pop the receipts in my top pocket) of total spends, then we can share the difference equally at the end of the night.

    You from Yorkshire?

    zilog6128
    Full Member

    Trollshire, more like! 🙂

    davidtaylforth
    Free Member

    😀

    al1982
    Free Member

    i paid £5 for a pint of peroni last weekend, nice pub on the outskirts of Huddersfield, was very surprised at the price!

    mogrim
    Full Member

    davidtaylforth – Member
    Yup, always check the drinks prices before ordering, then I don’t get stung. The barstaff/other customers don’t always seem too happy when I do this in a busy nightclub though! More fool them for not having a care in the world!
    If there’s a few of us on a night out and we’re buying rounds, I usually keep a running total (on my iPhone, or I pop the receipts in my top pocket) of total spends, then we can share the difference equally at the end of the night.

    😆

    davidtaylforth
    Free Member

    There’s bound to be people somewhere that’ll do that.

    Probably the people that ask on here about dinner part etiquette and all that – “how much should I spend on a bottle of wine” etc.

    tomhoward
    Full Member

    @Al1982 The Golden Cock at Farnley Tyas perchance?

    Been stung in there for that brew at that price myself!

    grum
    Free Member

    I’d definitely check the price of fancy Belgian beer in a touristy place. Don’t normally check, though I wouldn’t have been expecting 28 euros! I once spent 9 euros on a pint in Chamonix without realising and was pretty outraged.

    Manchester is getting ridiculously expensive though, and it’s spreading out from there.

    al1982
    Free Member

    Tom.. the very place!

    wukfit
    Free Member

    ive gotten used to the fact where i live (Hamble area, a pint is going to cost about £4.50, same when i go drinking in Cowes
    I get a real shock when i pay less than £3 a pint.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 66 total)

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