The price of a pint is rising sharply, according to a report in today’s Standard.
This paper’s business desk has concluded that a host of pubs across the city have put their prices up by as much as 20 per cent since the start of last year. The report, put together by business correspondent Simon Hunt, also concludes that prices for the same drink across London can vary by £3 a pint.
Not every trip to the local boozer need cost a fortune, and what appears to be London’s cheapest pint is in an unlikely location — zone one, and right on the edge of the City.
The landlord of the Masque Hunt, on Old Street, told the Standard he usually sells a pint of Greene King IPA for £2.36, but as part of the Spoons “Monday Club”, drops the price to £1.76. Monday Club is a promotional drive by the popular pub chain, where prices are lowered to encourage custom at the start of the week.
The Masque Hunt isn’t the only place in the heart of London to serve cheap pints, either: the Strangers’ Bar in the House of Commons offers both Cellarman’s reserve and Worthington Creamflow for just £2.90, prices which the Commons say are unsubsidised. Unfortunately, they’re also not available to the public — the bar is for those working in Parliament and their guests.
Parliament aside, the Masque Hunt is not alone in pouring inexpensive pints; many other Spoons do the same. Not far east of the Hunt is the Half Moon in Stepney Green (£1.79 for Greene King IPA, £2.74 for Sambrook’s Junction Ale). The Sir Julian Huxley in Croydon and J.J. Moons in Tooting — both of whom did not pick up the phone to answer enquires regarding Monday Club promotions — offer pints for £1.79 (Greene King IPA for the former; Greene King Ruddles Best for the latter). The friendly Colley Rowe Inn in Romford likewise offers Ruddles Best for £1.79.
It is not exclusively Greene King beers that are cheap though: the Colley Rowe also does Doombar for £2.10, as does the aforementioned Half Moon, while the Julian Huxley sells Oakham Brewery’s Oakham Inferno for £2.41. The likes of Bud Light (£2.64) and Carlsberg Pilsner (£2.94) are available at Spouter’s Corner in Wood Green.
Away from Sir Tim Martin’s all-conquering chain, there are other low-cost beers going. The well-regarded Royal Oak in Borough, which was named as CAMRA’s south east London pub of the year in 2023, offers a pint of Harvey’s Dark Mild or IPA for just £3.50 on Mondays, while the Hat & Tun, a pub just a stone’s throw from the diamond district of Hatton Garden, pours all pints for £5, all day. The Hercules in Holloway, meanwhile, is known for its decently-priced Guinness, which it serves for £4.90 — for context, the stout is now approaching or even £7 in many pubs.
Sometimes, value is found in surprising places. The Cruising Association at Limehouse Basin is known for being noticeably cheap, while even the Devonshire — perhaps London’s best known pub at present — does pints for under a fiver, serving Becks for £4.95.
