Anyone else fed up with rising alcohol prices?

[Lucytheluckyone]

So for those who drink alcohol, anyone shocked by how expensive drinks are when out these days? I was out for a nice dinner with my husband last night - the place we were in was a ‘higher end place’ but the general bars (I’m in Edinburgh) are much the same. The cheapest glass of wine was £11.95 (175mls) and cocktails started at £14.00! We opted for a bottle of wine because on working it out had we gone with glasses it may have been £50 alone without even eating! In Edinburgh a cocktail has gone from £7(ish) 2 years ago to over £10! Anyone have this where they live?

Mind you the price of cup of nice coffee is eye watering now too. I'd rather have a pint!

As Nd as f they add a spring of mint, and call it a nohito, it's £7 🤣

Yanbu. I've mostly given up alcohol for health reasons and the savings are huge.

A 175ml glass of wine is around 2 units, so £1.30 minimum price.

I don't think you'll be seeing much difference in the cost of a glass in a bar due to the minimum, compared to the rest of the UK.

I wonder if you could smuggle your own sprigs of mint in and sneakily add one?

😂

Edinburgh just last week we paid 14 for 2 pints and a bag of crisps

Scotland cocktails normally starting at £7 or £8 so o think it was your location

Edit to rant
soft drinks however are the same prices alsmot as alcohol -£5 for a pint of coke or lemondade - that just seems unreal to me

And this is why so many pubs are going out of business.

40 years ago there wasn't much difference in the price of alcohol sold in pubs to the price of alcohol sold in supermarkets. Now the difference is massive.

Personally I would be in favour of removing the tax on alcohol when sold in a pub / restaurant / bar etc and increasing the price of alcohol sold in supermarkets in order to keep pubs alive and reduce harmful excessive drinking at home.

I was shocked when I visited home a couple of years ago, everything seemed to have doubled in price (and halved in quality). I’m surprised that inflation had any more legs.

Because as per bloody usual the drunken few have spoiled it for the majority.

Scotland has a dire relationship with booze.

Yes it has gone a bit crazy in Glasgow too. The fancy cocktails that used to be £9 are now £12 or more. There are actually still a few bars that have decent prices whilst not being a Wetherspoons, so I'm voting with my feet now. I understand that businesses have it hard with minimum wage and NI increases but my own wages haven't grown at anything like the rate of minimum wage or cost of living. I'm just not prepared to spend £8 to drink a glass of prosecco in a freezing cold bar any more.

We go to our local tennis club, it has a lovely beer garden and is £4 a pint 😄

Yes, I gave up alcohol and now spend the savings on horses 🙈

Agree. All my friends stopped going out past 4pm after covid which has stopped our drinks nights. However if I go out with dh and the kids for dinner or lunch, it stops me ordering drinks 50% of the time. If I do, I get a get a bottle of fruit cider as its nearer £6 v two glasses of wine for £20.

I can enjoy it knowing I could get my kids a pair of Nikes in the Nike outlet for two glasses of wine. I'm not really into drinking since covid. Mixture of loosing smell and taste but mostly just killing off that night socail life for my friends. But I'd rather have a drink before I go out. Or just not drink.

Same with cost of parking puts me off popping to the shops. The things we used to do regularly ten years ago has really changed. We're better off but some things have got disproportionately expensive compared to essential items ( like £3.90 minium parking at the high street)

Beer is cheaper, esp at Spoons. I hardly ever buy wine out. Will occasionally have a cocktail after a meal instead of a desert if I know a place has nice ones. Soft drinks are expensive too and don't get me started on coffee!

Lidl wine is nice and about £7 a bottle😁

To be fair in that situation you are tasting the wine to check it’s not corked… not because you are at a wine tasting.
But if the bottle is a screwtop they don’t really need to offer that rigmarole!

Many years ago I picked up home brewing as a hobby. Cheap booze at home mean you could afford a bit when you were out.

Luckily nobody is interested, so it isn't taxed 😀

I do think that in an ideal world (and in practice this would be mega complicated and probably wouldn’t work) alcohol prices in shops should rise to tackle alcoholism (same as with nicotine products), but in restaurants alcohol should be reduced in cost so that you can enjoy it responsibly with a meal. It’s one of those things that’s nice to enjoy every now and again but I have seen first hand how it affects people and making it a premium product would condition the younger generations to think that it’s just not worth it.

Isla negra is a screw top el cheapo plonk -
toe curling!

I have stopped drinking out. It grates on me paying over the odds for substandard wine.

I would rather not drink than an £18 Echo Falls!

Yup, it’s insane. Our local pub is, I’ve just realised, the same price as a posh bar in town. Eye watering. On the plus side, it’s encouraging me to not drink, so that very good.

Lots and lots of restaurants and bars are closing every week across the UK. And shops.

With NI and taxes, utilities and insurances plus food prices all on the increase they have to pass this cost on. Unfortunately it lays with the customer. Reduction in customers then they first reduce nights they are open for food; opening Wednesday/Thursday to Saturday only then it the books still can’t balance they close.

Its an extremely difficult time for everyone in hospitality.

Isn't there a whole backdrop of the coming generations simply not drinking so much ?

Last office I worked in, there were no tales of nights out with traffic cones that would have been a staple of the 80s.

If there is less demand then the cost of servicing the remainder increases ... at some point you need to charge more to cover it. One of the many oddities the free market can throw up.

Yup, was horrified to see my local pub is now charging £15 for a glass of wine. I don’t go anymore! I can buy a bottle for that.

Beyond £10 there is no appreciable difference in taste.

A £10 bottle of wine will probably taste a little better than a £5 bottle. But not twice as good. A £30 bottle isn't going to be three times better than the £10 or six times better than the £5

Logic doesn't really suit marketing ....