Beer and wine are not poured, warns Trading Standards

More than two-thirds of pints of beer and glasses of wine poured in UK pubs and bars contain less drink than they should, new research suggests.

A report published on Friday by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) found that 70% of beer and wine taken across the country was short-measured.

She calculated that this meant the average beer drinker lost around £88.40 a year, while a wine drinker lost around £114.40 a year.

Trading Standards has urged pubs and bars to make sure they measure their drinks correctly.

The research comes as the price of alcoholic drinks has risen rapidly in the past few years.

According to the Office for National Statistics, alcohol prices have increased by 6.1% over the past year. However, as inflation has slowed recently, it rose by only 0.3% over the past month.

Labor MP Jess Phillips said the ongoing cost of living crisis meant short cuts were “adding insult to injury”.

“It’s not easy to afford to go out drinking and you should get what you pay for,” she added.

CTSI found that when a beer was short, it was on average 4% less than a full pint, while for wine it was an average of 5% less than a standard 175ml glass.

The consumer organization said that among the 137 drinks it sampled in 77 pubs and bars, the most unbottled drink was bought in Walsall, West Midlands, where there was a 15% shortage, or 26ml.

Large deficits were also found in Belfast and Havering, East London.

Duncan Stephenson, a spokesman for the CTSI, told the BBC it would not identify individual venues or chains it had found to be tainted drinks “because we don’t want to do that”.

He also said it was “difficult for us to say” whether there were specific parts of the UK where short measurements were likely to be more common as the study was a “snapshot” with a “small sample size”.

CTSI called for more research on this issue.

John Herriman, chief executive of CTSI, said it “is calling on the hospitality sector to ensure consumers get value for money by ensuring the drinks they serve to customers are measured correctly”.

But Emma McClarkin, chief executive of industry body the British Beer and Pub Association and a former Tory MEP, told the Mirror that landlords “in no way want to be accused of serving the millions of customers who enjoy visiting our pubs every week. “.

CTSI researchers measured beer samples on the basis that a pint is completely liquid – although whether the head should count as part of a pint is still debated.

When the 5% head – the industry standard for beer – was discounted, CTSI found that around a third of the beers it sampled were still underpowered.

The Campaign for Real Ale says consumers should be legally entitled to a fully liquid pint.

Its chairman Nik Antona said that punters are “well inside [their] rights’ to request an increase if the short is measured by more than 5%.

He added: “Consumers shouldn’t feel shortchanged when they support their favorite pubs, social clubs and pubs.”

Ms McClarkin said industry guidelines reflected the 95% liquid pint requirement and confirmed that consumers who wanted a smaller head on their beer “should always feel free to ask for a refill and should never be turned away”.

The survey, carried out by Censuswide on behalf of CTSI, found that more people think a head shouldn’t count as part of a pint than do – 35% versus 26% – although there wasn’t a clear majority on the issue.

The survey of 2,001 UK adults also found a generational divide over whether pubs and bars should be allowed to pour spirits without measuring devices: around half of under-45s said they should, while 59% of over-45s and more years stated that they should. No.