Comments on: How Much for a Pint of Foster’s!?

By: Rod

Rod — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 10:05:04 +0000

Well, how about -

I walk into one of the electronics shops in the Tottenham Court Rd, where there is fierce competition, and buy, say, a camera for the asking price. Ten minutes later, someone else walks in and haggles (because he knows you can successfully haggle, due to the level of competition). He gets the self-same camera as me, but 10% cheaper.
Surely no law has been broken, has it, even in our horrendously over-regulated society?

By: fishter

fishter — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 10:09:45 +0000

Illegal?
What about differential pricing for children and adults at the cinema, on the bus/train/plane? The same product, different price. Or is that OK because it’s ageism as opposed to nationality discrimination (“nationalism” doesn’t seem to fit there!).

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 07:23:00 +0000

spectators were marshalled into the stadium, saw the events, and were marshalled back to the station, with few stopping for a pint in Greenwich

FWIW it was exactly the same at Excel – I couldn’t even tell you what part of London it’s in.

By: Bailey

Bailey — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 07:18:44 +0000

Tsk. It’s a very shortsighted tactic, especially in this age of online review websites and blogging. People go abroad knowing roughly what the price of a pint is and, unless money is no object, will tend to avoid anywhere charging way over the odds. The days of the tourist as complete mug have gone!

By: Bailey

Bailey — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 07:17:06 +0000

Thanks for the insight, Rod. Hopefully those who saw Greenwich on telly, or while rushing through it to and from public transport, will come back for a proper visit in the coming weeks and months.

By: andy

andy — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 06:59:07 +0000

Blimey, Fosters was only £4.50 inside the Hyde Park live site.

By: Rod

Rod — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 12:09:52 +0000

Would it be illegal though?
It certainly goes on – there is one pub in Greenwich town centre, which I won’t name, which operated a “new, rip-off, price for tourists, same price as before if wek now you” policy throughout the Games. This is not the £5.90 for a pint of Fosters pub, by the way – I think I can guess which one that is, and I never go in there anyway.
Profiteering certainly went on in Greenwich during the Olympics, but £5.90/pint for dishwater like Fosters is extraordinary.
Not attempting to justify sharp practice, but pubs in greenwich are all reporting very poor trading during the Games (as are other local businesses) – spectators were marshalled into the stadium, saw the events, and were marshalled back to the station, with few stopping for a pint in Greenwich. Anybody who wasn’t going to the events stayed the hell away, thinking the place would be over-run.
Same as happens every London Marathon day.

By: Meer for Beer

Meer for Beer — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 10:16:39 +0000

Well from the trial test it didn’t go according to plan by the looks at it…

By: Curmudgeon

Curmudgeon — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 08:38:14 +0000

Presumably the price had been put up for all customers – it would be illegal anyway to charge different customers different prices for the same product on the same occasion.

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 08:27:58 +0000

Are you sure it wasn't craft Fosters they were talking about?