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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that "bring your own drinks" in Indian restaurants refers to alcohol only?

213 replies

areaGL51 · 18/08/2013 23:41

We often go to an unlicensed Indian restaurant and I can't believe the number of people who bring their own soft drinks. Big bottles of Coke etc. I think this is really unfair. "Bring your own" clearly means alcohol only!

OP posts:
KellyHopter · 19/08/2013 00:18

I've never seen a byoa place that simply says bring your own drinks, it's always perfectly clear it's just alcohol they don't sell.

BeaLola · 19/08/2013 00:19

Where my Dad lives the local Chinese is a BYO & charges 50p per person for a glass - it's yr choice whether you put soft drinks in or alcohol.

Monty27 · 19/08/2013 00:24

Kelly, it their religion.

softlysoftly · 19/08/2013 00:24

Yanbu if the sign is clear that it is byo alcohol.

Many places epithet don't have a license or religiously can't take profit on alcohol.

Restaurants have shit markups and barely survive so bringing soft drinks is very unfair.

MichelleRouxJnr · 19/08/2013 00:27

People bring soft drinks??
That seems like deliberately misunderstanding a commonly-acknowledged practice of bringing alcohol to a restaurant without an alcohol licence.
Cheeky, but hey I expect restaurant prices for soft drinks are cheeky too.

ravenAK · 19/08/2013 00:30

I waitressed in a BYOB Indian restaurant as a teenager. Everyone understood that this was to avoid the hassle of getting a liquor licence, something that was a foreign concept to the owner anyway, as he was a devout Muslim & genuinely didn't approve of boozing in his restaurant.

By the time I worked there his son had taken over the day-to-day running, was quite happy to have customers drinking, but his dad would certainly not have countenanced an application for a liquor licence.

So we all maintained a polite fiction that customers were turning up with a nice bottle of wine or a few beers, rather than me being sent to the offy next door to get them whatever they asked for...

It was very clearly about the restaurant not having a license for alcohol. No way would it somehow have become acceptable for customers to turn up with their own bottles of pop!

KellyHopter · 19/08/2013 00:32

Mont - I know, I was responding to the suggestion that the owner should get a licence to avoid the problem.

breatheslowly · 19/08/2013 00:54

So if you drink soft drinks you are likely to spend more in total than if you drink alcohol. Eg 2 people share a £5 bottle of wine compared to two people spending £8 on 2 cokes each at £2. The mark up on soft drinks can be really high. I can see why people would bring their own. That said. I wouldn't, but I might drink tap water. We don't seem to have unlicensed Indian restaurants around her anyway.

ilovesooty · 19/08/2013 01:45

My local BYO makes it quite clear that this refers to alcohol only, and you are expected to order any soft drinks from their menu.

Monty27 · 19/08/2013 01:59

Kelly, it is from what I understand against the religion to make profit out of say, alcohol and even banking, which I respect.

As I've said, I never had occasion to ask for a soft drink but have been charged 'corkage' Grin

The lovely staff have had to given me water :)

NicknameIncomplete · 19/08/2013 09:07

If i read a sign saying 'bring your own drinks' i would assume that they mean any drinks. If they mean alcoholic drinks they should say that.

LRDPomogiMnyeSRabotoi · 19/08/2013 09:09

I'd feel a bit of a twit if I brought in coke and found it on the menu (not least because coke is revolting and why in god's name you'd want to drink it with a curry I do not know). But I don't think I'd find it 'cheeky', I'd just assume people misunderstood and/or the restaurant didn't care.

As someone else said, plenty of places only have tap water so not unusual to bring other drinks in.

Trills · 19/08/2013 09:16

If the restaurant doesn't complain, and if the sign doesn't make it clear, then YABU to be bothered about it.

Meerkatwhiskers · 19/08/2013 09:33

Wow never heard of byoa to an Indian restaurant. I live in a very multicultural town (we have always had a large Asian population) in the south east and all our restaurants are licensed. It's a whole new world.

I assume ours must all be run by Hindu Indian restauranteurs rather than Muslim then (which is the main religion in India anyway not Muslim).

All Indian people I know are able to drink alcohol very freely - that's family btw.

Laquila · 19/08/2013 09:39

I'm a bit confused about this. I can understand how people could interpret "Bring your own drinks" either way - I've been to BYOB restaurants where bringing just alcohol, and also where bringing all drinks yourself, was the norm.

I can't help thinking that it's just down to the owners to be clearer, and then to politely say something along the lines of "We do actually sell soft drinks, so I'm afraid we're unable to let you consume your own on the premises", or similar. Surely no-one's forcing them to let customers drink their own cokes if they (the owners) don't want them to!

BrokenSunglasses · 19/08/2013 09:48

I've never come across this before, we have loads of Indian restaurants near us and they all have licences.

I think that if they've decided they don't want to profit from alcohol then that's fair enough, it then don't invite people to bring their own, just have a non alcoholic restaurant.

I would resent paying over inflated prices for soft drinks when friends who chose to drink wine or beer were allowed to get their drinks cheaply elsewhere. It just seems completely unfair, and bad business, to divide your customers like that.

LittleprincessinGOLDrocks · 19/08/2013 09:53

We take a bottle of coke to the local curry house. The owner has never said anything to us, but then we are frequent customers and know the manager pretty well (12 years of frequent visits Grin ).
I am pretty sure the only soft drinks they offer is the mango juice in cans and water, going by what is on the menu.
I don't see what difference it really makes to the restaurant if you take your own coke or your own beer.

mrsjay · 19/08/2013 09:55

there is a BYOB indian place where I am it means alcohol yes i suppose it is cheeky of them to bring cola but maybe it is a misunderstanding but they are paying for the food so a soft drink it hardly going to bankrupt the place

JulietBravoJuliet · 19/08/2013 09:57

I must admit to being one of the cheeky ones who takes non-alcoholic drinks Blush

In my defence, we normally go after work and I'm the only one driving. I drink like a fish when I'm eating and it's £2.50 for a glass of coke, so I tend to take a bottle of alcohol free wine as I can't afford to keep buying drinks. I'm not blatant enough to rock up with a huge bottle of pop though!

sashh · 19/08/2013 09:57

Meerkatwhiskers

Come visit the midlands, it's very common here.

Works well too because you get to drink a wine you like, and if the owners are Muslim, their wine list will probably consist of what's been advertised rather than what is good due to not tasting the wines/beers.

On the other hand the owner does not need a licence, can charge for the use of glasses (but I don't think I ever have been) if they are Muslim then there is no clash with making profit from alcohol.

It's always byoa round here, so if you brought a bottle of a spirit you would be expected to buy the mixers from the bar.

FranSanDisco · 19/08/2013 10:01

Only one restaurant in my town does this and I have never been in it tbh. The restaurant we usually go to owned by a muslim gentleman and alcohol is sold.

I think if the owners don't want soft drinks brought in they should make this clearer.

RavenAK is selling alcohol wthout a licence not illegal then if you buy it in the offy next door and sell it to your customers?? How did the restaurant you worked in get round that?

hardboiledpossum · 19/08/2013 10:18

A Thai restraint that i frequent is byob but they also sell alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks. In this case is it ok to bring soft drinks?

hardboiledpossum · 19/08/2013 10:19

Restaurant

mrsjay · 19/08/2013 10:24

I was in a chinese recently and a group of chinese people were in drinking their own soft drink Confused the staff didnt seem to mind or were maybe to polite to say,

SPBisResisting · 19/08/2013 10:27

Well presumably they could refuse to let yoy bring any drinks and just sell soft drinks. Theyve obviously figure profits are higher if they allow people to drink while eating - else people who want an alcoholic drink with their meal will just go elsewhere. So it then seems even more profiteering to say "but you can't bring soft drinks". They are entitled to do that though, and customers can vote with theor feet

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