Knock on effects-pubs-takeaways-taxis.

[chem1st]

Maybe in Chem1sts world.

An interesting assertion. Where did the figures for £1.25/hr and 17p/pint come from though?

You said half a days wage (when a pint was 17p) was £5, so 4 hours = £5 = £1.25/hour

 

You said this when quoting a poster whom said he paid 17p a pint.

 

Is the tax significantly higher today than it used to be?

 

Yes, considerably so. DUTY rises above inflation, and increase to VAT has lead to increased taxes in REAL TERMS. Combined with falling wages in REAL TERMS.

 

---------- Post added 05-12-2012 at 14:43 ----------

 

http://www.norfolkpubs.co.uk/utility/pob.htm

 

PUBLIC HOUSE PRICES

 

In 1966 a pint of Bitter cost £0/1/10d ( £0.0916 today )

 

In 1966 the average wage is recorded as £20 per week

( Doctors and footballers on £100 pw and farm labourers on £13 pw )

 

Based upon a 40 hour week that equated to £0.50 per hour

 

That £0.50 would purchase 5.5 pints. ( 5.46 )

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

By 1971 the average National UK wage ( for men ) was £28 per week.

Based on a 40 hour week and post decimalisation Bitter at 12.5p / pint

One hour's work would buy 5.6 pints.

 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

 

In June 2009 the Office for National Statistics gave the average weekly wage as £489

 

Based upon a 40 hour week that is £12.23 an hour.

 

A 3.8% BITTER then cost on average, £2.80 a pint.

So the average hourly gross pay would buy 4.4 pints.

 

Even assuming a 35 hour week it only works out to be

5 pints ( 4.99 ), still less than in 1966.

 

We have lost beer purchasing power, beer sales are down massively - young people are drinking less than ever before (far far less than the boomers did!). There is a resurgence in homebrew and it is quite easy to buy duty free spirits (and increasingly wine too)

 

On 15th June 1973 in was reported that forktruck drivers, working for Watney Mann

were paid £32.40 gross per 40 hour week. Overtime was paid at £1.20 per hour.

With best bitter then at 14 pence a pint, the normal hourly rate would buy 5.78 pints

 

Do you know how much an FLT driver is paid today? And how many pints that buys... Work it out, it is quite easy. Minimum wage is £6.19... Average price of a pint of bitter is now £2.80 (source = http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/General-News/Average-price-of-a-pint-increases-by-11p-over-the-last-year)

 

The working man has been robbed.

[*_ash_*]

Chemist, you are comparing average wages, which include very high earners. Look at the figures that I posted. I don't need to link anything because they are based on what I earned in low paid work.

[mart]

Chemist, you are comparing average wages, which include very high earners. Look at the figures that I posted. I don't need to link anything because they are based on what I earned in low paid work.

 

 

If pubs are closing mainly due to the cost of beer, and I believe that to be the main reason (plenty of links on Google), then what Chem1st is saying here with his figures is correct. The high earners that you refer to above would not be concerned about the cost of the beer. Clearly the customers that use the pubs & keep them open (the low earning customers in the example provided by Chem1st) have had enough, and the pubs have closed.

[Bypassblade]

The evidence would suggest that it has had little to no effect.

 

But £5 was half a days wage... You weren't paid a minimum of £6.50/hr.

That would just suggest that you spend way too much time in the pub.

 

No just that sociable, we go out once a month possibly every 2, depends if I'm well enough to go out

[discodown]

As of the middle of October, Wetherspoons are under a one year boycott by me and my kin.

That explains why they're cutting back on their expansion plans

[*_ash_*]

If pubs are closing mainly due to the cost of beer, and I believe that to be the main reason (plenty of links on Google), then what Chem1st is saying here with his figures is correct. The high earners that you refer to above would not be concerned about the cost of the beer. Clearly the customers that use the pubs & keep them open (the low earning customers in the example provided by Chem1st) have had enough, and the pubs have closed.

 

?

If pubs are closing down due to price, then chemist figures must be right?

 

Either Chemist's figures are right or wrong - I believe they are right. That doesn't mean that that is why pubs are closing.

 

The extremely high earners MAKE the average wage so high. Chemists figures are correct comparing the price of beer to an average wage that most of us 'ordinary folk' don't earn. Using the 'average wage' comparing to pub prices is stupid unless you think that local pubs (that close down) are/were equally frequented by the highest earners. That's nonsense in my experience.

 

(the low earning customers in the example provided by Chem1st) have had enough, and the pubs have closed.

 

Chemist's data shows mainly average wages, and skilled jobs, and only mentions low earning customers when he uses the NMW for 'Apprentices'; hardly using 'the average working man' as he/you suggests.

[chem1st]

Chemist, you are comparing average wages, which include very high earners. Look at the figures that I posted. I don't need to link anything because they are based on what I earned in low paid work.

 

Aye, however, income inequality is far greater today than it was in the past. So if anything, average wages today should be taken with a greater pinch of salt than the ones in the past.

 

I did also post a specific example of the fork lift truck driver...

 

On 15th June 1973 in was reported that forktruck drivers, working for Watney Mann

were paid £32.40 gross per 40 hour week. Overtime was paid at £1.20 per hour.

With best bitter then at 14 pence a pint, the normal hourly rate would buy 5.78 pints

 

]Do you know how much an FLT driver is paid today? And how many pints that buys... Work it out, it is quite easy. Minimum wage is £6.19... Average price of a pint of bitter is now £2.80 (source = http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/G...-the-last-year)

 

His beer purchasing power has fallen considerably.

 

We should also remember that there was a time when everyone drank beer as the water wasn't safe - if that was the case today, people would be dying of thirst due to the ridiculous cost of beer.

[*_ash_*]

Aye, however, income inequality is far greater today than it was in the past. So if anything, average wages today should be taken with a greater pinch of salt than the ones in the past.

 

I WAS taking average wage with a pinch of salt from the start of this part of the discussion.

 

I did also post a specific example of the fork lift truck driver...

 

The fork lift truck driver was in the average wage category in 1973 according to your stats. That suggests a quite highly skilled job (which it still is, but with much less pay).

 

His beer purchasing power has fallen considerably.

 

...which suggests that today FLT drivers don't earn as much as they used to. Today they could only buy 3 pints for an hour's work. NMW can buy 2. I already stated earlier that my equiv NMW in 1991 could buy me less than 2 pints per hour's work.

 

We should also remember that there was a time when everyone drank beer as the water wasn't safe - if that was the case today, people would be dying of thirst due to the ridiculous cost of beer.

 

But that isn't the case today, and people can buy clean water in a bottle for 20p for 500ml. (or about 23p a pint (or 26 pints for an hour's work at NMW))

[anywebsite]

A Taxi will make more money doing shorter trips

 

Fewer people want a taxi when they can walk home from their local.

 

*_ash_*, there was no NMW in 1991.

[Bruno]

If pubs are closing mainly due to the cost of beer, and I believe that to be the main reason (plenty of links on Google), then what Chem1st is saying here with his figures is correct. The high earners that you refer to above would not be concerned about the cost of the beer. Clearly the customers that use the pubs & keep them open (the low earning customers in the example provided by Chem1st) have had enough, and the pubs have closed.

 

 

Nah i don't buy that, like I said before Technology is to blame! online gaming, watch what you want when you want etc, along with cheap supermarket booze.

 

You are more likely to see the less well off in a pub, because they're in a warm place, cant afford the likes of a sky package, or Xbox, can make a drink last a long time watch sky sports etc therefore not running up any bills at home.