Stonegate owns the popular pub chains Slug&Lettuce and Craft Union. Heffernan said that the timing of surge pricing,in which a pint of beer would cost about 20 British pence (40 cents) more,would vary by pub,but that generally prices would be higher on weekends and evenings.
In July,the average price for a pint of draft lager was £4.31 (about $8.35),up from £4 ($7.75) a year earlier,according to Britain’s Office for National Statistics.
Customers have become accustomed to surge pricing across various industries,including retail and travel. But some Britons said applying it to pubs went too far.
Pete Favelle,an IT consultant in Abergavenny,Wales,said that surcharges made sense for products that had limited availability,like flights or hotels,but that charging extra for pints at certain hours was “just a grab for cash.”
He said he hoped the policy would fall flat because of the difficulty in implementing it. “Their poor front-of-house staff have to explain to enraged customers that,actually,their next pint now costs an extra quid because it’s got a bit busy,” he said.
Zhe Liu,an assistant professor of operations management at Imperial College Business School in London,said companies relied on surge pricing to increase revenue or to lower demand,or both. He said it was realistic that Stonegate was raising prices to cover increased costs,since it had to employ additional staffing during peak hours.