WA News

Pints are back: Perth pubs succumb to beer pressure!

People power has poured cold water over the push from several popular Perth pubs to punt the pint.

It was just months ago the death of the 568ml glass seemed a fait accompli in WA.

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What's happened to the pint

Journalist David Prestipino explains what some pubs are doing with the pint, you might as well grab a middy.

But public outrage, on the back of a series of stories on WAtoday, seems to have struck a chord with publicans, with some of the pubs we poo-pooed shifting back to the popular vessel.

First it was The Wembley Hotel, the original focus of WAtoday's coverage, that reverted back to pint glasses.

The renovated suburban pub began serving them again last week, along with middies and the venue's new 480ml 'large beers', after considerable backlash from long-time locals.

And on Friday the Guildford Hotel confirmed it too would return to pints, with the million-dollar refurbished pub to offer them alongside middies from November 30.

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It's a wise move from both venues after pub drinkers, already hit by higher beer prices, fumed that their new and improved local watering holes were favouring fancy glassware over substance and tradition.

The frothing threatened to bubble over when WAtoday revealed that the Wembley Hotel and South Perth suburban stalwart The Windsor were still charging pint prices for beer served in smaller glasses.

The Wembley has also lowered its prices accordingly, after WAtoday reported it was cheaper to buy beer from the venue by the middy rather than the 480ml glass, as is still the case at The Windsor.

WAtoday was highly critical of The Wembley's new pricing at the time, despite the costly renovation now complete and looking a million bucks.

Calculations showed it was actually not cheaper to buy a large beer instead of a smaller one at the venue - an anomaly against the "cheaper by the dozen" consumer philosophy, with 15 of their 17 beers cheaper by the smaller size.

Beer drinkers in WA expect better value if you buy the bigger beer, something they will now receive at The Wembley.

"We thought we'd do a trial last weekend and give customers the option to order pints, middies and our new 480ml large beers," a Wembley barman told WAtoday.

"It went really well so we're going to keep it going for now."

Meanwhile, the Guildford Hotel said it would release its new price list of middies and pints next Wednesday.

It has already indicated that pints of Carlton Dry, Feral Hop Hog IPA and the Coopers range of beers would increase each by $1 when pints are re-introduced.

The Guildford's clever social media campaign last week asked patrons whether they wanted to keep the status quo of serving only schooners, or if they'd prefer the pint.

It was a surefire way to increase their database and also gain very valuable feedback from an increasingly impatient drinking public.

The pub's beer list was further thrust into the spotlight after Radio 6PR personality Karl Langdon, on his quest to find Perth's best pub, was charged $12 for a 425ml schooner.

A Guildford Hotel spokesperson told us management had taken note of feedback from customers across a few venues and thought they'd test the issue through a public vote.

The result? A whopping 95 per cent of respondents favoured bringing back the pint instead of retaining the schooner... a figure to make every pint-less Perth publican shake.

"Operationally, bar staff are pretty busy getting things ready for the 30th... it's quite a big undertaking, and there's definitely a cost associated with it," she said.

But raise a pint, folks... it seems people power (and beer pressure) still has some pull in sleepy Perth.

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