Pint of beer costs 30p more in London than the north

The price of beer in the North West averages £2.87 compared with £3.15 in London and the South East, the Good Pub Guide has found.

A pint averages £2.88 in the West Midlands, £2.95 in the South West, £2.99 in the East Midlands, £3.04 in the East of England and costs the same as the North West in the North East and Yorkshire.

Pubs brewing their own ale charge under £2.50 a pint, with scarcely any increase over the past year, said the guide, compared with a 7% rise elsewhere.

The annual guide also discovered that the most popular pub food was steak and ale pie, closely followed by fish and chips, often “beer-battered”.

Lasagne scored zero in a list of top food choices, with curry, sausage and mash and ham and egg also slipping well down the popularity stakes.

Decent coffee was said to be available in nearly all good pubs, although the guide said it was a “shame” that almost half of pubs in the UK did not open until noon.

The guide also questioned why few town and city pubs had the character and charm found in country inns, describing them as “pleasant enough”, with “okay” levels of service, while furnishings came from a vast warehouse hidden away in an anonymous “off-motorway wasteland”.

Fiona Stapley, editor of the Good Pub Guide, said: “Today’s number one food choice for pub-goers is steak in ale pie, in all it glorious variations: steak in ale-Guinness-stout-red wine, with mushrooms, stilton, kidneys, oysters.

“Other pies follow, like all types of fish, chicken, pork, lamb, rabbit, shepherd’s, venison, wild boar, duckling, goose. And they love suet puddings too.”

Paul Nuttall, UKIP’s deputy leader, said: “However, the Government could do more to make the pint of a pub-goer cheaper by not increasing excise duty by 2% above the rate of inflation every year. Such a move is destroying Britain’s pub trade and stunting growth.”

Source: Daily Mirror

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