“Surge pricing” is the name of the technique which consists of increasing prices at certain strategic times. A technique adopted by a few hundred bars from the Stonegate group, market leader in British pubs, reports the New York Times. To cope with inflation which increases their costs, they will increase the price of their pints of draft beer by a few cents during peak hours. An “unhappy hour”, in short, jokes Tom Stainer, head of the beer consumer association Campaign for Real Ale.
The Stonegate Group owns more than 4,000 pubs in the UK, including the Slug chains
The times chosen to use “surge pricing” will vary from one establishment to another, specifies a Stonegate spokesperson. However, the measure should apply in the evenings and on weekends. It had already been tested in certain pubs on the days of football matches, where the clientele was particularly dense.
The move comes as the UK pub market suffers from rising energy costs and general inflation. The Stonegate group told the New York Times that it had made a loss of £23 million (or €26.76 million) in the first quarter of 2023.
The only risk of this occasional price increase is that the pubs which practice it will see their customers flee. Especially since beer is already experiencing its own inflation: according to the British Statistics Office, the average price of a pint of draft lager has increased from 4 pounds (or 4.65 euros) to 4.31 pounds (or 5 euros) in one year.