Pubs doing “takeaway” alcohol

[Notcontent]

Just saw a notice on a neighbourhood website advertising that a local pub is doing takeaway pints this weekend. I can completely understand why a pub would want to do that. BUT, let’s be honest, people buying the “takeaway” pints will not be buying them to take them home. They will want to stand outside in the sun to drink them with friends - that’s the whole point. And that seems to raise all sorts of issues - like crowding outside the pub - and sorry to raise this again - LACK OF TOILETS!!!

Pubs are required, as a condition of their licence, to provide toilets - because drinkers need to go, even if they have bladders made of steel... I am just glad I don’t live near the pub in question as I would not want the front of my house being used as a toilet.

‘Travelling miles’ - is this the ‘everyone on mumsnet lives rurally’ brigade again? Our local (clue in the name) has been doing this for a couple of weeks. DH has been popping down to buy a couple of pints on weekends in a milk carton as:

He really likes a couple of their local ales, which you can’t get in the supermarket
Even if you could, canned beer tastes totally different to a pulled pint
It’s helping keep a local business alive
Less of a queue at the pub than at our local Sainsbury’s!

I’d be asking him to pick up a bottle of wine for me from there if I wasn’t pregnant - yes it’s more expensive than a bottle from the supermarket but we love our local, and the people who work there, and we want it there to go back to when we can!

At no point has any street pissing or wild partying taken place and I can vouch for that as I’ve been sober since November 😂

Because beer in a can is entirely different from freshly pulled draught beer.

It's freshly pulled when you buy it at the bar and sit down at the bar and drink it. Not to take it out and then drink it at home.

@MadameMarie it's absolutely nothing to do with you where people buy their beer from! I bet you're the type of person to tell other people to make it themselves when they want a take away! 🙄

Given you think it’s the same as a can from a supermarket, I think we can discount your opinion on this @MadameMarie.

@"Why would you want to takeaway a pint from a pub when you could buy 4 sealed for the same price at the off-license/supermarket/co-op?

There's no reason why you'd want to do that".

Except that many people are very mindful of the devastating impact this is having on many local businesses and are choosing to support them rather than the big chains.

The pubs here have been doing it since this started to try and clear stock. You have to take your own container which has a lid, and people don't seem to have been congregating outside. My friends who have been buying it just do so in the hope it raises the chance that they'll reopen.

Local micro brewery has been selling takeaway real ale, you bring a old milk carton and get it filled.

Local football club have opened their bar this weekend, just a few hours each day. You pay by card and then socially distanced drinking on the football pitch.

@longearedbat we get ours delivered in a pint glass with a cover on it.Like what you get for coffee.

@longearedbat

I don't disagree. I won't be drinking at all until the pubs are open properly, maybe a bottle of wine from the shop. I don't drink 'real ale' so don't know about that but certainly lagers you need to drink them when they're poured or they go flat. And you want to drink them in a proper pint glass, not a plastic cup or whatever.

People might make it work for them but it's not logistical for most. A lot of pubs don't even stock things like real ale. It's a niche interest, half the people in bars are drinking bottles anyway or pints of lagers.

I was reading an article the other day about high end restaurants in NYC and they are opening their wine cellars to stay afloat.

Queues every day and the punters got a chance to buy wines they might not otherwise be able to afford or want to try for a very reasonable price.

I thought it was a great idea

We hired this from our local tap room so it always tastes great when we get it home

@MadameMarie Comparing properly kept and conditioned real ale to supermarket larger cans is like comparing El Bulli or Noma to McDonald's! It's clear you know nothing about ale or brewing! 😂😂😂

@LEELULUMPKIN Yeah I said in the next post I can understand it from wanting to help local businesses, or want the pub to stay alive to reopen some day.

But it's certainly not sustainable as a business model. It's too niche.

@ImFreeToDoWhatIWant

Most pubs don't even stock real ale

Oh my god .. real ale is not “niche”! They sell it in every single pub

I’m in the us and my state started allowing take away alcohol to help restaurants survive. Absolutely no one has popped it open outside. You pick it up, drive home, and then get to safely consume. I rarely drink, but I do enjoy a fruity beverage or a craft cocktail from time to time. The problem
Is that my only way to get home is to drive (we don’t really have taxis And ubers are rare) The other day I picked up an amazing cocktail in a plastic container, wrapped in Saran Wrap to seal, brought it home and poured over ice. It was delicious and no Issues with how to get home.

@MadameMarie we don't all drink fizzy lager type drinks, let alone the fizzy ales you get in supermarkets.

My real ale and DHs real cider start off flat and are drunk at room temperature. They don't suffer from a short trip home.

I've just checked and yes, I can get frozen cocktail too

Too niche at the moment maybe but as we are constantly being told, we are living a new normal now.

No one knows how long this is going to last.

If it keeps the doors open and the wolf from the door they have at least got to try.

On a night out (miss those) I can get real ale at every venue here, actual real ale as well, not liquid slop pretending to be real ale. On a night out I go to some dives, nowhere you’d consider posh.

And just to be clear, I never drink and drive, so getting to have a cocktail on a night out is rare. It only happens if I have a designated driver. Normally I have to just drink water or juice.

@MadameMarie You are so, so wrong! 😂😂😂 You clearly drink in the less... quality establishments! 😂

@Fluffybutter

It's one type of drink though. A lot of people in pubs and bars are drinking lager and wine etc which you can buy just as easily and a lot cheaper in the shop.

I can’t think of a pub near us that doesn’t do real ale! There’s 3 within a 10 minute walk, and a specialist craft beer bar too. We’re on the very outskirts of London (at the Surrey border) so not exactly central either.

But it's certainly not sustainable as a business model. It's too niche

All the pubs did it when I was a child. It was far from “niche”. It’s perfectly sustainable while pubs can’t open.

Most pubs don't even stock real ale

Are you in UK?😱