I was googling Antifrank's suggestion of Carl Bildt.
And look what google news brought up
Sweden’s foreign minister has warned that Scottish independence would lead to the “Balkanisation of the British Isles” and have far-reaching consequences for the rest of Europe, in the strongest expression of concern from another EU government so far.
Carl Bildt told the Financial Times that there would be “unforeseen chain reactions” in both Europe and the UK if Scotland were to vote for independence on September 18.
“I think it’s going to have far more profound implications than people think. The Balkanisation of the British Isles is something we are not looking forward to,” said Mr Bildt, who was the UN’s special envoy to the Balkans between 1999 and 2001.
“It opens up a lot, primarily in Scotland but also in the UK. What are the implications for the Irish question? What happens in Ulster?”
Why is there such a massive difference in pub prices across the country? Here in Merseyside, you can buy keg bitter for £2.20 and cask bitter for about £2.60, yet even here, you can get stung for a £3 pint.
I'd guess the brewery charge up to £1.20 a pint, but allowing for spillage, wastage, and line-cleaning, a 100% mark-up could give you a living, assuming you sell enough. Yes, I know that's a big assumption, and having staff idling around a wet afternoon is a big cost.
But are the wages so much higher in London and the South East?
A genuine question and I think pubs should be supported.
I like Mr. Me's idea of higher duty for off sales and a restriction on supermarket prices and I am in full agreement of going back to the old two session licensing hours, even if they did produce some strange anomalies.
However, the real problem with pubs at the moment is the prices they charge. I have no beef with the landlords here, they are struggling to make a living but the prices in pubs has now reached the point where they are getting beyond the ordinary bloke. A pint of Guinness in an ordinary pub in Brighton the other week was £4.80. A sandwich in my local village pub is £6.85 and a pint of Harvey's Best £3.80. When my boy and I stopped off at a rural pub the other week two pints each and two slices of cheese on toast came to just under thirty quid. These are crazy prices and until they are addressed more and more pubs will close.
Pubs can only charge relative to the cost to them wholesale. Step forward the PubCos.......
I quite agree, Mr. Woolie. As I said I have no beef with the landlords and in my first post on this subject this morning I explicitly mentioned Punch Taverns as an example of the greedy grasping PubCos that came about because some Conservative idiot, who probably never went to a pub more than once a year and who didn't understand the trade, thought he could alter the market for the good of consumers.
The fact remains that drinkers are being priced out of pubs.
I must say this lack of charity to a very nervous young boy is really surprising. Thankfully it won't be shared by Her Majesty who will doubtless make sure the young lad doesn't feel as if he spoiled anything.
I was just yanking your chain.
Having a friend in the Grenadier Guards, I have a lot of sympathy for anyone who attends her Majesty, the protocol alone is enough to make anyone feint.
Indeed. I understand HM is always personally concerned to put people at their ease if they feel they've made a mistake. I'm sure the kid will be really upset so I hope he gets put at his ease. I'd hate to be that close to the ceremonial I'd go to bits, I get very nervous in crowded rooms at the best of times.
Just imagine doing all that wearing a Bearskin headgear during the summer.
Why is there such a massive difference in pub prices across the country? Here in Merseyside, you can buy keg bitter for £2.20 and cask bitter for about £2.60, yet even here, you can get stung for a £3 pint.
I'd guess the brewery charge up to £1.20 a pint, but allowing for spillage, wastage, and line-cleaning, a 100% mark-up could give you a living, assuming you sell enough. Yes, I know that's a big assumption, and having staff idling around a wet afternoon is a big cost.
But are the wages so much higher in London and the South East?
A genuine question and I think pubs should be supported.
A bottle of Magners in my local costs £4.40, and you can buy 6 for £6.79 in Aldi (subject to availability). Even Waitrose sell 8 for a tenner
Why is there such a massive difference in pub prices across the country? Here in Merseyside, you can buy keg bitter for £2.20 and cask bitter for about £2.60, yet even here, you can get stung for a £3 pint.
I'd guess the brewery charge up to £1.20 a pint, but allowing for spillage, wastage, and line-cleaning, a 100% mark-up could give you a living, assuming you sell enough. Yes, I know that's a big assumption, and having staff idling around a wet afternoon is a big cost.
But are the wages so much higher in London and the South East?
A genuine question and I think pubs should be supported.
A bottle of Magners in my local costs £4.40, and you can buy 6 for £6.79 in Aldi (subject to availability). Even Waitrose sell 8 for a tenner
ISAM drinks an EU immigrant beverage - made in RoI from potatoes and crab apples !
Praise for Cameron from an unexpected quarter.....Labour List:
The annoying thing for [Labour].... is that Cameron has.....actually done rather a good job on Scotland.....
It is easy to say that he has done nothing; but take a look at the counterexample of his Spanish counterpart, Mariano Rajoy. Catalonia, which has had a nationalist government for most of the last forty years, is asking for a similar referendum.
In order to prevent secession, Rajoy is, ill-advisedly, sitting on the constitution, which technically forbids secession. You can’t do this, he says, because this piece of paper says you can’t. But this stupidly ignores (a) fairness, (b) international precedents, such as the United Nations right to self-determination, and (c) the effect that his denial of democracy has on the Catalan population.
Naturally, the more you tell someone they can’t have something, the more they want it....Politically, he could scarcely have bungled an important matter of state more effectively.
In marked contrast, what has Cameron said to the Scottish public? “Referendum? No problem, no problem. When do you want it?”
And then, after a short pause, almost whispered: “you are really sure about this, aren’t you? Big step, y’know”. Thereby making many Scots reflect on whether they are sure. Most are not.
Why is there such a massive difference in pub prices across the country? Here in Merseyside, you can buy keg bitter for £2.20 and cask bitter for about £2.60, yet even here, you can get stung for a £3 pint.
I'd guess the brewery charge up to £1.20 a pint, but allowing for spillage, wastage, and line-cleaning, a 100% mark-up could give you a living, assuming you sell enough. Yes, I know that's a big assumption, and having staff idling around a wet afternoon is a big cost.
But are the wages so much higher in London and the South East?
A genuine question and I think pubs should be supported.
A bottle of Magners in my local costs £4.40, and you can buy 6 for £6.79 in Aldi (subject to availability). Even Waitrose sell 8 for a tenner
ISAM drinks an EU immigrant beverage - made in RoI from potatoes and crab apples !
Coming over here quenching our thirsts !
What is wrong with British ale ?
Presumably as a UKIP supporter he supports free trade.
Why is there such a massive difference in pub prices across the country? Here in Merseyside, you can buy keg bitter for £2.20 and cask bitter for about £2.60, yet even here, you can get stung for a £3 pint.
I'd guess the brewery charge up to £1.20 a pint, but allowing for spillage, wastage, and line-cleaning, a 100% mark-up could give you a living, assuming you sell enough. Yes, I know that's a big assumption, and having staff idling around a wet afternoon is a big cost.
But are the wages so much higher in London and the South East?
A genuine question and I think pubs should be supported.
A bottle of Magners in my local costs £4.40, and you can buy 6 for £6.79 in Aldi (subject to availability). Even Waitrose sell 8 for a tenner
ISAM drinks an EU immigrant beverage - made in RoI from potatoes and crab apples !
Coming over here quenching our thirsts !
What is wrong with British ale ?
Ha!
I dont like Ale at all.
If they had Thatchers Gold I'd prefer that (is that English?)
Why is there such a massive difference in pub prices across the country? Here in Merseyside, you can buy keg bitter for £2.20 and cask bitter for about £2.60, yet even here, you can get stung for a £3 pint.
I'd guess the brewery charge up to £1.20 a pint, but allowing for spillage, wastage, and line-cleaning, a 100% mark-up could give you a living, assuming you sell enough. Yes, I know that's a big assumption, and having staff idling around a wet afternoon is a big cost.
But are the wages so much higher in London and the South East?
A genuine question and I think pubs should be supported.
A bottle of Magners in my local costs £4.40, and you can buy 6 for £6.79 in Aldi (subject to availability). Even Waitrose sell 8 for a tenner
What is wrong with British ale ?
Too expensive.
Same way that you'd rather pay a Pole to paint your house, than a costlier local hire.
Why is there such a massive difference in pub prices across the country? Here in Merseyside, you can buy keg bitter for £2.20 and cask bitter for about £2.60, yet even here, you can get stung for a £3 pint.
I'd guess the brewery charge up to £1.20 a pint, but allowing for spillage, wastage, and line-cleaning, a 100% mark-up could give you a living, assuming you sell enough. Yes, I know that's a big assumption, and having staff idling around a wet afternoon is a big cost.
But are the wages so much higher in London and the South East?
A genuine question and I think pubs should be supported.
A bottle of Magners in my local costs £4.40, and you can buy 6 for £6.79 in Aldi (subject to availability). Even Waitrose sell 8 for a tenner
ISAM drinks an EU immigrant beverage - made in RoI from potatoes and crab apples !
Coming over here quenching our thirsts !
What is wrong with British ale ?
Presumably as a UKIP supporter he supports free trade.
Why is there such a massive difference in pub prices across the country? Here in Merseyside, you can buy keg bitter for £2.20 and cask bitter for about £2.60, yet even here, you can get stung for a £3 pint.
I'd guess the brewery charge up to £1.20 a pint, but allowing for spillage, wastage, and line-cleaning, a 100% mark-up could give you a living, assuming you sell enough. Yes, I know that's a big assumption, and having staff idling around a wet afternoon is a big cost.
But are the wages so much higher in London and the South East?
A genuine question and I think pubs should be supported.
A bottle of Magners in my local costs £4.40, and you can buy 6 for £6.79 in Aldi (subject to availability). Even Waitrose sell 8 for a tenner
What is wrong with British ale ?
Too expensive.
Same way that you'd rather pay a Pole to paint your house, than a costlier local hire.
Why is there such a massive difference in pub prices across the country? Here in Merseyside, you can buy keg bitter for £2.20 and cask bitter for about £2.60, yet even here, you can get stung for a £3 pint.
I'd guess the brewery charge up to £1.20 a pint, but allowing for spillage, wastage, and line-cleaning, a 100% mark-up could give you a living, assuming you sell enough. Yes, I know that's a big assumption, and having staff idling around a wet afternoon is a big cost.
But are the wages so much higher in London and the South East?
A genuine question and I think pubs should be supported.
A bottle of Magners in my local costs £4.40, and you can buy 6 for £6.79 in Aldi (subject to availability). Even Waitrose sell 8 for a tenner
ISAM drinks an EU immigrant beverage - made in RoI from potatoes and crab apples !
Coming over here quenching our thirsts !
What is wrong with British ale ?
Ha!
I dont like Ale at all.
If they had Thatchers Gold I'd prefer that (is that English?)
I had some Aspall's cider the other day. Nice stuff, but £2 a bottle at Sainsburys!
Why is there such a massive difference in pub prices across the country? Here in Merseyside, you can buy keg bitter for £2.20 and cask bitter for about £2.60, yet even here, you can get stung for a £3 pint.
I'd guess the brewery charge up to £1.20 a pint, but allowing for spillage, wastage, and line-cleaning, a 100% mark-up could give you a living, assuming you sell enough. Yes, I know that's a big assumption, and having staff idling around a wet afternoon is a big cost.
But are the wages so much higher in London and the South East?
A genuine question and I think pubs should be supported.
Cost differential North to South, some of the pubs will be free houses and able to buy their kegs at 67% or less than a tied house is the short answer. You have no chance of breaking even on a 100% mark up (and £1.20 a pint Is cheap from most PubCos), as well as the costs mentioned, you have rent on the building or mortgage if a free house, insurance, cellar maintenance, utilities, rent on domestic quarters, PRS and PPL if you play the radio or have occasional live music etc etc. You need to be making 50% plus gross profit on a yield on better than 98% in a pub turning over a quarter of a million in wet sales doing at least a third of the shifts yourself to get to somewhere near average wage.
Why is there such a massive difference in pub prices across the country? Here in Merseyside, you can buy keg bitter for £2.20 and cask bitter for about £2.60, yet even here, you can get stung for a £3 pint.
I'd guess the brewery charge up to £1.20 a pint, but allowing for spillage, wastage, and line-cleaning, a 100% mark-up could give you a living, assuming you sell enough. Yes, I know that's a big assumption, and having staff idling around a wet afternoon is a big cost.
But are the wages so much higher in London and the South East?
A genuine question and I think pubs should be supported.
A bottle of Magners in my local costs £4.40, and you can buy 6 for £6.79 in Aldi (subject to availability). Even Waitrose sell 8 for a tenner
ISAM drinks an EU immigrant beverage - made in RoI from potatoes and crab apples !
Coming over here quenching our thirsts !
What is wrong with British ale ?
Ha!
I dont like Ale at all.
If they had Thatchers Gold I'd prefer that (is that English?)
Try Thatchers "Cheddar Valley" from Zomerzet - that will put hairs on your chest young man.
BTW .... Twas Desmond Swayne, the Vice Chamberlain, who was the Queen's Speech "Hostage MP" today.
Rumour has it he was last seen leaving the roof of Buckingham Palace by helicopter after the Prime Minister had successfully negotiated an exchange with the Tory Taleban for the release of Peter Bone from some Witney dungeon.
BTW .... Twas Desmond Swayne, the Vice Chamberlain, who was the Queen's Speech "Hostage MP" today.
Rumour has it he was last seen leaving the roof of Buckingham Palace by helicopter after the Prime Minister had successfully negotiated an exchange with the Tory Taleban for the release of Peter Bone from some Witney dungeon.
I think a bill for the tracking of Peter Bone would gain considerable Tory support
Pubs /bars do not sell the same thing as supermarkets though.
Supermarkets sell alcohol, good pubs /bars sell a nice atmosphere . Pubs that gave no atmosphere (or a bad one) have been most affected by cheap supermarket booze
Anyone who chooses the pub they go into on the basis of it being 20p a pint cheaper than another pub is weird and does not have the right priorities on life!
BTW .... Twas Desmond Swayne, the Vice Chamberlain, who was the Queen's Speech "Hostage MP" today.
Rumour has it he was last seen leaving the roof of Buckingham Palace by helicopter after the Prime Minister had successfully negotiated an exchange with the Tory Taleban for the release of Peter Bone from some Witney dungeon.
I think a bill for the fracking of Peter Bone would gain considerable Tory support
Thanks, I can see being a publican is a mug's game at present.
I serve beer at the local rugby club occasionally (and do the lines) on a voluntary basis and we struggle to get a 50% margin overall. We also charge a lot for the beer (£2.90 a pint) and this leads to numerous complaints. Being a rugby club, though, I can insult the customers to my hearts content (and I do). Our best margin is on spirits but we don't get much take-up there.
We make more on the 21st birthday functions (alcopops etc), but we have paid staff for them as the customers aren't used to being served by volunteers who may well tell them to FO.
Even here, and particularly on the 18th birthdays, the clientele tend to stock up on cheap booze from supermarkets beforehand.
Minimum pricing for alcohol and tell the supermarkets to FO - that's the way to go.
Thanks, I can see being a publican is a mug's game at present.
I serve beer at the local rugby club occasionally (and do the lines) on a voluntary basis and we struggle to get a 50% margin overall. We also charge a lot for the beer (£2.90 a pint) and this leads to numerous complaints. Being a rugby club, though, I can insult the customers to my hearts content (and I do). Our best margin is on spirits but we don't get much take-up there.
We make more on the 21st birthday functions (alcopops etc), but we have paid staff for them as the customers aren't used to being served by volunteers who may well tell them to FO.
Even here, and particularly on the 18th birthdays, the clientele tend to stock up on cheap booze from supermarkets beforehand.
Minimum pricing for alcohol and tell the supermarkets to FO - that's the way to go.
Noooo!
I know we have started a new thread but lets kill this silly idea here. If people are not drinking in pubs because they cannot afford to do so then making booze more expensive in supermarkets is not going to solve the problem.
Comments
And look what google news brought up
Sweden’s foreign minister has warned that Scottish independence would lead to the “Balkanisation of the British Isles” and have far-reaching consequences for the rest of Europe, in the strongest expression of concern from another EU government so far.
Carl Bildt told the Financial Times that there would be “unforeseen chain reactions” in both Europe and the UK if Scotland were to vote for independence on September 18.
“I think it’s going to have far more profound implications than people think. The Balkanisation of the British Isles is something we are not looking forward to,” said Mr Bildt, who was the UN’s special envoy to the Balkans between 1999 and 2001.
“It opens up a lot, primarily in Scotland but also in the UK. What are the implications for the Irish question? What happens in Ulster?”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1a45b9bc-e258-11e3-89fd-00144feabdc0.html#axzz33cO50yLX
Cybernats announce boycott of Abba, Saabs and pretty blondes
pic.twitter.com/kDek7uAtPi
Why is there such a massive difference in pub prices across the country? Here in Merseyside, you can buy keg bitter for £2.20 and cask bitter for about £2.60, yet even here, you can get stung for a £3 pint.
I'd guess the brewery charge up to £1.20 a pint, but allowing for spillage, wastage, and line-cleaning, a 100% mark-up could give you a living, assuming you sell enough. Yes, I know that's a big assumption, and having staff idling around a wet afternoon is a big cost.
But are the wages so much higher in London and the South East?
A genuine question and I think pubs should be supported.
The Little Shop Of Horrors.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/316702/Queens-Speech-2014.pdf
The new 'Defined Ambition' [clunky term!] pensions in particular are an important innovation. A lot of the rest has already been announced, though.
*NB I have colleagues who would be very upset to know that I had expressed this opinion.
Coming over here quenching our thirsts !
What is wrong with British ale ?
The annoying thing for [Labour].... is that Cameron has.....actually done rather a good job on Scotland.....
It is easy to say that he has done nothing; but take a look at the counterexample of his Spanish counterpart, Mariano Rajoy. Catalonia, which has had a nationalist government for most of the last forty years, is asking for a similar referendum.
In order to prevent secession, Rajoy is, ill-advisedly, sitting on the constitution, which technically forbids secession. You can’t do this, he says, because this piece of paper says you can’t. But this stupidly ignores (a) fairness, (b) international precedents, such as the United Nations right to self-determination, and (c) the effect that his denial of democracy has on the Catalan population.
Naturally, the more you tell someone they can’t have something, the more they want it....Politically, he could scarcely have bungled an important matter of state more effectively.
In marked contrast, what has Cameron said to the Scottish public? “Referendum? No problem, no problem. When do you want it?”
And then, after a short pause, almost whispered: “you are really sure about this, aren’t you? Big step, y’know”. Thereby making many Scots reflect on whether they are sure. Most are not.
http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2014/06/04/a-no-for-scotland-may-not-be-as-positive-for-labour-as-we-might-think/#more-18361
"Is that a new innovation?"
Aaargh! You did that deliberately.
Edit: A couple of weeks ago, I described a new polling adjustment as a new innovation, much to Mr Nabavi's chagrin.
He was literally* climbing the walls.
*A new innovation that annoys us both
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/15/living/literally-definition/
http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/8034/zombie-parliament-some-dead-good-legislation-data/
I dont like Ale at all.
If they had Thatchers Gold I'd prefer that (is that English?)
Same way that you'd rather pay a Pole to paint your house, than a costlier local hire.
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/joan-mcalpine-voting-no-could-3642022
Edit: Shouldn't it be Luxembourgeois or Luxembourgian?
The institutions selling these are next to each other.
@TheScreamingEagles should be able to guess where I was.
You have no chance of breaking even on a 100% mark up (and £1.20 a pint Is cheap from most PubCos), as well as the costs mentioned, you have rent on the building or mortgage if a free house, insurance, cellar maintenance, utilities, rent on domestic quarters, PRS and PPL if you play the radio or have occasional live music etc etc.
You need to be making 50% plus gross profit on a yield on better than 98% in a pub turning over a quarter of a million in wet sales doing at least a third of the shifts yourself to get to somewhere near average wage.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-27696769
Rumour has it he was last seen leaving the roof of Buckingham Palace by helicopter after the Prime Minister had successfully negotiated an exchange with the Tory Taleban for the release of Peter Bone from some Witney dungeon.
Their pale skin crinkles and burns in anything more than weak sunshine.
Supermarkets sell alcohol, good pubs /bars sell a nice atmosphere . Pubs that gave no atmosphere (or a bad one) have been most affected by cheap supermarket booze
Anyone who chooses the pub they go into on the basis of it being 20p a pint cheaper than another pub is weird and does not have the right priorities on life!
Thanks, I can see being a publican is a mug's game at present.
I serve beer at the local rugby club occasionally (and do the lines) on a voluntary basis and we struggle to get a 50% margin overall. We also charge a lot for the beer (£2.90 a pint) and this leads to numerous complaints. Being a rugby club, though, I can insult the customers to my hearts content (and I do). Our best margin is on spirits but we don't get much take-up there.
We make more on the 21st birthday functions (alcopops etc), but we have paid staff for them as the customers aren't used to being served by volunteers who may well tell them to FO.
Even here, and particularly on the 18th birthdays, the clientele tend to stock up on cheap booze from supermarkets beforehand.
Minimum pricing for alcohol and tell the supermarkets to FO - that's the way to go.
I know we have started a new thread but lets kill this silly idea here. If people are not drinking in pubs because they cannot afford to do so then making booze more expensive in supermarkets is not going to solve the problem.