Pubgoers slam ‘inflated’ prices

BEER wars . . . GMB’s Mike Williamson and Pineapple Inn landlady Gail Pomfrey want a cut in wholesale beer prices

REGULARS at a Shaw pub have called on a company to cut the “ridiculous” wholesale prices they charge their local.

They’ve teamed up with union GMB to demand Admiral Taverns lower the prices charged to the Pineapple Inn and make drinks cheaper.

The union says customers know that the higher wholesale prices charged by pub companies are in effect a “levy” to pay interest to the securitised bondholders who play no socially useful role in the industry.

Up to 80 regulars at the Rochdale Road pub have signed a petition supporting pub landlady Gail Pomfrey in calling on Admiral to cut the wholesale prices.

The firm supplies a 22-gallon keg of Carling lager to Gail for £224.14 net of VAT — compared to a price of £140 in the wholesale market in the area.

GMB has analysed retail prices charged by pub operators and submitted its findings to the Office of Fair Trading and the EU, saying that pub companies are driving up prices.

Its survey shows that Pubfolio Ltd non-managed pubs sell the cheapest pints of lager at an average £2.01, with Valient Sports second at £2.07, Weatherspoons next at £2.09 and Gail forced to charge £2.65.

Gail, who has run the pub for 10 years, said: “It is ridiculous what we have to pay for our beers and bottles from Admiral Taverns. We pay way over and above cash-and-carry prices.

“We pay between £20 to £50 more per barrel of beer and lager, depending on brand, and £5 to £15 a case of bottles. We have no alternative but to pass all these inflated prices on to the customer.”

GMB North-West Secretary Mike Williamson said: “With this petition you can see the strength of feeling of the customers. It’s getting to the point where people can’t afford to go out and socialise. The fat cats levying the workers’ beer has got to be stopped.”

An Admiral Taverns spokeswoman said: “We offer our landlords a large selection of leading drinks brands at competitive prices and all pricing agreements are negotiated with licensees on an individual basis.

“All licensees who sign up to a tenancy or lease agreement with us are fully aware of these prices when they sign up to run our pubs.

“We also provide them with resources they wouldn’t otherwise have access to, such as advice and support from our team of business development managers, our property help desk, marketing resources, food development and training.

“We invest heavily in improving our pub estate.

“However, the main benefit of the tied model is that it’s a low-cost way of entering a pub business as it doesn’t require the huge sums of money needed to buy an independently- owned pub.”