A pub chain in the UK has introduced a new ‘dynamic pricing’ structure, with prices for its drinks changing throughout the day.
Stonegate Pubs, which has over 4,500 bars, pubs, and nightclubs across the UK including Slug & Lettuce and Be At One, has introduced the new pricing structure at around a fifth of its sites.
The pub said it is using the tactic to cover extra costs such as bar staff or bouncers during busy times, having previously introduced the scheme during its screening of the World Cup.
It means that during busier times in the evenings and weekends punters could be paying much more for a pint, with some unhappy drinkers branding it an “unhappy hour”.
Polite notices have already been posted around pubs where the surge pricing structure, which is also used by taxi companies like Uber, is set to be introduced.
ADVERTISEMENT
The price rises will not just apply to alcohol drinks, either, but to anyone purchasing a drink in a selected Stonegate pub at a surge time.
While the move has undoubtedly sparked some debate on X, formerly known as Twitter, Alex Reilley, chairman and co-founder of restaurant and bar group Loungers, tweeted that several other businesses already used dynamic pricing.
He wrote: “A number of city centre brands do this already (and have done for some time) – at least Stonegate have been honest about telling their customers. Maybe hotels and airlines should charge a flat fee and maybe Greggs and Costa should charge the same in service stations as they do on the [high street].”
Reilley added: “In this case Stonegate are being criticised for being transparent – tons of businesses in a number of sectors operate dynamic pricing and don’t tell their customers.”
ADVERTISEMENT
A spokesperson for Stonegate said: “Stonegate Group, like all retail businesses, regularly review pricing to manage costs but also to ensure we offer great value for money to our guests.
“Across the managed business our dynamic pricing encompasses the ability to offer guests a range of promotions including happy hours, 2 for 1 cocktails, and discounts on food and drink products at different times on different days throughout the week.
“This flexibility may mean that on occasions pricing may marginally increase in selective pubs and bars due to the increased cost demands on the business with additional staffing or licensing requirements such as additional door team members.”
One of Manchester’s grandest restaurants has finally reopened TWO YEARS after fire
Daisy Jackson
One of the most historic restaurants in Manchester has reopened at last, two years after a fire forced its closure.
Mount Street Dining Room & Bar – which many of us may remember as Mr Cooper’s – stands within the Grade II-listed Midland Hotel.
The grand dining room dates all the way back to 1903, when it opened with the hotel as the Grill Room.
The restaurant was at the epicentre of the Industrial Revolution and was frequented by railway travellers, perhaps best-known for hosting a lunch between Charles Rolls and Henry Royce in 1904, who went on to form the world-famous Rolls-Royce brand.
The Midland’s restaurants has gone through several changes in the decades since, undergoing a major £14 million refurb in 2020 to relaunch as Mount Street Dining Room & Bar.
Its interiors are inspired by the hotel’s early 1900s art deco and railway heritage, with a menu that focuses on locally-sourced British produce.
But the restaurant has been shut since early 2024, when a fire damaged the entrance and trellising around its main entrance on Mount Street.
The beautiful bar areaA glimpse of the menu at Mount StreetCocktails and British food
The Midland has finally managed to get the restaurant back open again this month, with a new food and cocktail menus, which aims to offer refined but simple British dining.
Expect dishes like pork and black pudding bonbons, white onion soup with crispy potatoes, smoked British salmon with lemon gel and dill mascarpone, and slow cooked beef daube with confit garlic mash.
Plus desserts such as rice pudding with Anise glazed pearsand Bakewell pudding with cherry syrup.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen inside this beautiful, storied dining room – and it looks just as beautiful as we remember.
Georgina Pellant -
13th September 2023 
