Essex County Council’s trading standards investigates pubs selling drinkers short
Essex County Council’s trading standards has been taking part in a national initiative to monitor the accuracy of beer and wine measures.
Across the country, nine local authorities made test purchases and found 70% were short-measure; 86% of pints of beer were, on average, 4% under, while 43% of 175ml glasses of wine were short. The largest deficit on a glass of wine was 15%.
With 26 million pints a week served, it is estimated that the missing 4% could cost customers as much as £264m a year on ale alone.
At the five Essex pubs visited, three out of five pints of beer tested were short – one by 5% and two by 7%. However, only one glass of wine was short, by just 1.5%.
All the businesses serving short measures have been advised on compliance.