A PUB is selling the “cheapest pints” in the UK for as little as £2.30 – almost half the average cost.
The Waggon and Horses in Oldbury, West Midlands, is flogging all beers, ciders and ales for £2.90 and under to encourage punters to drink in traditional local boozers.
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Although other places have previously slashed the cost of one or two brands to lower, customers reckon nowhere can be beaten on price for their entire drinks selection.
The old-fashioned Black Country pub said it wanted to “give back” to locals with bargain beer while many people struggle during the cost of living crisis.
A pint of Stella will now set you back just £2.80, while Carling, Coors and John Smiths is £2.40 and a pint of Thatcher’s Gold is £2.30.
The average cost of a pint in the UK is now over £4 for the first time – at £4.58, compared to £2.30 in 2008 during the last recession.
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And a pint in London’s West End can top £9 while one in ten taverns sell at between £6-£6.99 and 40 per cent ask the average of £4.58.
Leaseholder Matthew Porter said: “I’ve had this pub for seven years, and it’s a proper locals pub. It deserves to be busy every day.
“There are multi-million pound companies either side of us who are putting their prices up and we’re putting ours down to say ‘come and drink with us’.
“In this day and age you have to think a bit outside of the box. We just looked at how low we could cut our prices while managing to survive.
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“As long as we pack the place out all day, every day, we should be able to pay the bills and people get cheap beer so it keeps everyone happy.
“It’s hard for people at the minute, some are struggling and aren’t going to go out and spend £40 on a Friday night anymore.
It’s a great little pub and I’ll be back here a lot more now the prices are so low.
George Scott
“But if that suddenly turns into more like a £10 night, we’re hoping people will be more inclined to come and have a drink with us.
“We want to keep traditional pubs going. They are part of communities and are closing all over.
“I think the younger generations will forget how to socialise.
“But in order to keep our prices low, we need people to show their support.
“We are dropping the prices for everyone, but we need them to come in and show their support for the prices to stay low.
“We just want to give something back.”
The small, traditional pub serves cob sandwiches daily and has four televisions that show live sports and events.
Matthew added: “The architecture inside is phenomenal. There are old-fashioned tiled floors and ceilings and a real log fire.
“The pub is small, but it makes up for that with its atmosphere.”
Pub customer George Scott, 67, of Oldbury, added: “It’s a great little pub and I’ll be back here a lot more now the prices are so low.
“Credit to them. At the moment prices seem to be going up in every aspect of life so to see them come down somewhere is amazing.
“I’ve heard of pubs slashing the price of one or two pints to lower than this but here they have slashed pretty much their entire selection, which is unheard of.
“You get others doing £1 a pint for a certain amount of hours on one day a week – but to keep prices this low all of the time is brilliant.
“It has got to be the cheapest pub in the country in terms of its whole selection.”
Geordie Gordon, 62, originally from Newcastle, now living in Oldbury, has been drinking in the Waggon and Horse for 15 years.
He said: “Aye, I think it’s great. I’ve just come back from Cardiff where I was paying £6 a pint and that was the cheapest.
“So to come back here where the prices are so low, makes it much more affordable to go for a pint.
“The prices are now similar to when I first started coming 15 years ago. It’s a lovely little pub and everybody knows each other.
“You get some new faces from time to time like away fans when the Baggies play and now we’re seeing more thanks to the cheap prices.”
Another punter Michael Brennan, 50, of Great Bridge, added: “My drink is Stella which us usually pretty pricey so to get it for £2.80 is a bargain.
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“And £2.30 a Thatchers is crazy these days. But I’m chuffed this is my local and I hope it attracts more customers.”
The Waggon and Horses is open 10am-11pm Monday to Friday and 11.30am-11pm on Sundays.
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UNBEERLIEVABLE
ALMOST half of pubs are now charging more than a fiver for a pint of lager as drinkers are stung by ever increasing costs.
The price of a pint has swelled to cost between £5 and £5.99 at nearly a third of inns (32 per cent), while one in ten taverns are selling a pint of lager for between £6 to £6.99.
Four in ten pubs are asking around the national average of £4.58 and charging between £4 and £4.99.
In 2008, during the last recession the price of a pint, was £2.30.
Since then prices have kept climbing.
Only 16 per cent of British boozers sell pints for under £4 and just 2 per cent charge cheap and cheerful £2 to £2.99 for a pint.
