Short Measures
Pubs and Clubs in the UK annually sell 208 million pints more than they buy from their suppliers. This miracle is performed by selling you the customer air instead of beer.
Whilst wine and spirit measures are defined in weights and measures legislation, and are rigorously enforced, the same cannot be said for beer. At present a ‘pint’ of beer is allowed to contain as much froth as the vendor can get away with. You are entitled to ask for a top up if you believe there is too much head on your beer, but that is it. If you believe you are being consistently ripped off contact the Herts County Coucil Trading Standards department.
Their address is
Trading Standards Dept
45 Grosvenor Road
St Albans
Herts
AL1 3AW
Tel 01992 556799
Email hcc.tradstad@hertscc.gov.uk
Worse is to come. Despite several years of promises to do something about this from the government, including their election manifestos, the latest scheme is to define a pint as “not less than 95% liquid”. This of course legally entitles the beer seller to rip you off of 5% of a pint. That is about 16p on every average pint of bitter round here. If you drink lager it’s more.
CAMRA believes that your pint of beer should be defined as 100% liquid, just like your pint of milk is. If you believe it should be too, please add your name to our ‘Take It To The Top’ petition. Click here to sign up.
Some local pubs use oversized 22oz glasses like we do at CAMRA beer festivals. These give you enough room for a whole pint of liquid and free air in the form of a head of froth too. Ones we know about are:
- The Lordship Arms, Benington
- The Woodman, Nuthampstead
- The Greyhound, St Ippolyts
- Brambles, Buntingford
- Our Mutual Friend, Stevenage
5 out of more than 200 pubs in the branch area, not a great turnout. If you know of any others please let us know, and we will add them to the Hall of Fame.
