Business owner hits out at Britain’s biggest pub chain for charging drinkers 20p more for a beer at peak times – as viewers rage they’ll ‘drink elsewhere’ instead

• Miranda Richardson slammed the chain in a Good Morning Britain debate today 
• READ MORE: Busy pub? Then pay more for a pint! Britain’s biggest pub chain will charge drinkers 20p more for a beer at the weekend during peak times

A pub owner has hit out at Britain’s biggest pub chain, which has started charging its customers 20p extra for a pint during busy trading periods.

In a debate on Good Morning Britain, Miranda Richardson slammed Stonegate Group – which owns Yates’s and Slug & Lettuce amid more than 4,500 pubs in the UK – for adding a surcharge at peak times at 800 of its sites across the country.

The pub chain says its new ‘dynamic’ pricing system will help it cover the costs of bringing in extra staff and bringing in more bouncers.

However Miranda, who owns The Squirrels in Northampton, said that not only are they ‘alienating customers’ but creating a ‘knock-on effect’ where regulars will spend less money on other priorities, losing extra pounds to drinks instead.

Meanwhile viewers watching the programme were outraged by the new price increase – with one saying: ‘We may just turn around, go back out the door, and have a drink in a pub that isn’t putting its prices up at peak times.’

Miranda Richardson, who owns The Squirrels in Northampton, hit out at Britain’s biggest pub chain, which has started charging its customers 20p extra for a pint during busy trading periods

‘If they put the prices up, we might go in, we might have one drink and go “I’m not going to pay more for that on a Saturday night”,’ Miranda said on the programme. 

‘So instead of increasing your guest base… you’re just going to alienate them.’

But consumer expert Harry Wallop called it a ‘clever’ strategy on the part of pubs, saying: ‘Look, they’re trying to reduce the crush in a pub at a busy time and encourage you to go at a quieter time.’

He believes that the ‘outrage is all completely confected’ and claims no one would have even noticed an overall increase.

‘If they had put up 20 pence on the price of a pint across the day in all their pubs, no one would’ve noticed,’ he added. 

‘A pint of beer is not a sacred thing. It is not a life saving pharmaceutical – that would be outrageous. if there was putting up the price for more demand. 

‘It’s just a pint of beer, you don’t need a pint of beer. If you hate the idea, you can go to someone else’s pub down the road. 

‘Dynamic pricing happens across the consumer industry, in hotels, in airlines and online.’

But Miranda pointed out that airline trips are a luxury items, which consumers will budget and prepare for, which can’t be compared to pints. 

Social media users appear divided by the move, with some warning that the pub group may end up ‘backtracking’ on the decision and others remarking that you can just not drink there

‘The knock-on effect of that is that person that’s still going to go there – because that’s where they go at five o’clock… they might have an extra pound or two pounds spent through the course of the evening…

‘That’s then two pounds that won’t go home, that won’t feed a kid.’

Social media users appear divided by the move, with some warning that the pub group may end up ‘backtracking’ on the decision and others remarking that you can just not drink there.

‘We may just turn around, go back out the door, and have a drink in a pub that isn’t putting its prices up at peak times,’ one said.

Another questioned why the chain would ‘put up prices because their pub’s too full’.

‘Didn’t pubs used to have happy hour at peak times, lowering the prices when the pub was busiest after work encouraged people to stay longer into the evening,’ a viewer added.

‘Putting the prices up and folk will head to the off license.’

Stonegate Group first brought in peak time surcharges for major sports events, including the World Cup in 2018.

But consumer expert Harry Wallop, pictured today on GMB, called it a ‘clever’ strategy on the part of pubs

Now, the surcharges have been made permanent in some Stonegate pubs, meaning they come into force when footfall is high, such as on weekends. 

A spokesperson for the company told The Telegraph that the surcharges will vary between pubs but that any price hikes would be ‘marginal’.

Photos of signs informing customers of the extra charges were shared on social media, alongside complaints from pubgoers. 

A ‘polite notice’ in one Stonegate pub said ‘dynamic pricing is currently live in this venue during this peak trading session’. 

The sign says the surcharges will pay for extra staff, extra cleaning, plastic pint glasses, and ‘satisfying and complying with licensing requirements’.

The notice explains that ‘any increase in our pricing today is to cover these additional requirements.’ 

MailOnline had contacted Stonegate Group for comment at the time. 

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