Hi everyone - we recently had a member contact us unhappy with how most pubs don’t display beer prices, leading to instances of him spending much more than he would’ve liked for a drink
Beer drinkers - do you ever ask for the price of a beer before you buy it? Why/why not? If you do, have you always done this or only just recently?
And for folks buying other sorts of drinks at pubs/bars - have you had any unpleasant pricey surprises when it comes time to pay and how have you adapted? Thanks!
The only time I have seen prices advertised in a pub, is where it sells meals with table service and they have drinks on the menu/a separate drinks menu. Not every pub that sells food has drinks and their prices on the menu, as some expect patrons to walk to the bar to buy drinks separate to meals.
No, never have as I know roughly the price. Often it however shocks me when there has been a regulated price rise, when alcohol excise also periodically increases.
I don’t drink much at pubs. Maybe a pint if not driving and having a meal. Only frequent pubs for the occasional meal, not to have a drink.
Drink prices at bars have become ridiculous. Over about three decades, a round of drinks for a table (of five) costs the same as a single drink today. The increase has far exceeded other commonly consumed products.
I can seek why prices have increased substantially. With new loadings, penalty rates, super etc for employees, ever increasing alcohol excise and many pubs brewing their own… along with 10% GST on the result, no wonder a glass of beer now hits the hip pocket hard.
I went to my hairdresser this week and ordered off the drinks menu. No prices on it at all. So i ordered a very nice gin drink. It wasn’t until i paid for my haircut, that i figured out i had been charged $22.50 on top of the bill for the experience 
It is a reasonable complaint. I’ve never seen prices on display and am always shocked. Like $13.00 for a schooner! really!? Are you sure? It’s only $5 in a can at the bottle shop in the next room.
I have asked first and been informed, but it’s embarrassing and, oddly, the bartender usually doesn’t know off the top of their head so has to go to the console and punch it in then look at you with a ‘so do you want it’ expression.
The prices per beer can vary significantly, sometimes “top row” and “bottom row”, sometimes the bars in the same building have different pricing! Don’t get me started on the driver’s lemon-lime-bitters, they have a 100% variance in price between pubs.
Then there is the difference in sizes now. Once upon a time a schooner was a schooner (NSW) and, what, 425ml? Now “would you like a pint?” where a “pint” seems to be anything from 450ml to 550ml?
No wonder I’m drinking at home, alone, more often 
Yes it’s such a shame. Pubs are just dying because they are ‘poshing up’ and charging too much for drinks, so we all buy cheap from Uncle Dan’s etc and drink at home. The local pub is a wonderful social institution, which is being killed off.
Thank goodness our local “pub” sells stubbies for $3.00 ! But that’s a retirement complex - sorry - you’ll just have to wait to grow old LOL.
I’m an RSL member . I present my membership card at every drink purchase and receive a discount .
We’re more of a pub meal/dine family. Hence the beer prices are evident on the menus along side the wine prices (by the glass or bottle). The only challenge zero beers are typically not on tap leaving one to purchase a stubby. Interestingly there is little difference in pricing between popular beers with or without alcohol which ever way it is offered.
I tend to reflect on the fact one is paying for the fresh cold glass, beer coaster for note taking, a place to sit, and ones limitless choice of digital content around the walls. Entertainment optional. Alternately I could take in the sunshine and swipe on at a train station for a fraction of the price, sit on the platform and do some train spotting. If in need of a drink the nearby vending machine would offer some light refreshment. The price of the branded spring water or can of coke looking more like that of a beer down the pub. Knowing the pub offers more including toilets and is air conditioned - unless it’s the Flying Scotsman etc - value may vary.
Not to disagree there is always scope for some some confusion. I’ve not noticed any issues with pubs in the Eastern States assuming one knows a pot from a midi. Nor any change in a schooner capacity it being since the 1970’s and semi sobriety 15 Imperial measure fluid ounces (425ml). While a pint has always been one third more and rounded to 570ml. South Australia just being South Australia has gone in a different direction. The only State to have built its mainline railways to three different gauges, it pays to be adaptable when visiting.
If it were the price of a stubbie of beer or a can it certainly can vary. More to do with the brand, NSW “throw downs” and Darwin stubbies excepted.
Wikipedia has an interesting article and offers the following table.
That’s a stitch up. Also, if you have to pay for it, doesn’t that mean they need to display their liquor licence somewhere? Further, aren’t those licences expensive and why get one for a salon? I venture that for this reason, that might be salon-specific.
Similarly, my overpriced and very fancy pantsy inner city salon has a free own-vineyard in France wine menu, many barbers I hear of will do the same with beer. My local high street walk in salon has a coffee menu, but with prices.
the price of a beer remained fairly stable from when I started drinking 20-odd years ago ($5 schooner) until about the pandemic (I’d say single digits for local draught). I go to the pub semi regularly to watch sports with or without a meal and with the more modern proliferation of local craft breweries making their way out of the bottle and into the taps there’s that extra premium bump, compared to the old local draught. The classic way to “push the boat out” to test prices for me is to order a pint of well-poured Guinness (or in the case of my local pub, rather ordinary) which stands at about $16-18. From that assessment, I’d say beer prices are fairly in line with inflation. Compared to staples like milk, may seem outrageous. Cocktails maybe similar rate, going from $18 to $24 in my time enjoying them since about 15 years ago.
Milk 15c, later 20c for a pint glass bottle (gold top), and twice that for those new fangled quart glass bottles. Beer 40c for a Pot (half pint) round numbers or slightly less depending on which pub in Brisbane. The best value popping over the border into NSW where the RSL’s were selling schooners for less than a pot in Qld and a midi 20c? Memory a little vague on the last for some reason. To note back then Milk was mostly home delivered and a regulated market. The milko doing the night time rumble along your garden path also supplied the local corner stores, cafes etc.
The suggested equivalence from the 70’s a 10oz beer (midi, pot etc) was the same price over the public bar counter as a quart of milk. One litre of milk is slightly less than the old imperial quart. (Approx 1/8th less, 1137ml = 1 imperial quart). The $6-$8 or more one might pay for a pot today in Brisbane more than adequate to purchase just about any brand of 3 litre milk at Colesworth. Is it that milk due to direct supply through the supermarket chains and loss of dairy market regulation has become cheaper over time?
At the start of the 70’s petrol (regular leaded) was under 10c/l but by the end of the 70’s had more than doubled to 22-23c/l. Varied by state and cheaper than milk or beer. It still is! There was high inflation in the 1970’s. One will find numerous references to past prices. They do differ as do our memories. Prices and regulatory regimes of each state as well as regional variations all played into the mix. More recently some AI sources appear to have failed to correctly interpret the progressive changes to decimal currency and metric measurement. Some caution required in looking at references. The changes kicked off in 1966 with the currency and around 1974/75 for measurement. The last a soft conversion in most instances. After all it was not simple for a pub to throw out all the old glasses for new ones of a different size, or use glasses of two different sizes. Hence why a pot, midi, schooner etc retain their own numbered measurements and common names. We are yet to see shrinkflation deliver the 400ml schooner glass - or are we?
Yes, I regularly have to ask and it is very annoying. There are very few pubs that show the prices on the taps. It is a requirement in the UK which is great. Often I’ll get the advertised special/happy hour beer since I know the price and don’t have to ask.
Wow, do you have ESP? The price varies so widely, and often doesn’t make sense (ie an SA pint (425mL) or a real pint (570 mL) being nearly the same price as a schooner (385 mL) for 2/3 or half the amount of beer, or some beers being double or triple the price for the same amount.
This is very annoying, it is like the bartender expects you to just order and pay whatever they feel like without knowing in advance. And if you are in a new pub and don’t have a particular beer in mind - I like to try new beers, but it’s very tiring to ask “How much for a pint of X? What about a schooner? How about Y? What about Z?
No, with only 4 pubs in town and we generally consume the same sized beer (viz. pint). Commercially produced draught beers in each of the pubs are about the same price.
Thank you!
Someone else has noticed this problem, how can they get away with it? When we go into the pub we hold everyone up by asking the server what is the price of that pint, what is the price of that pint? We can feel the grumbles behind us in the queue for service. We know exactly what we’re doing but there should be some indication of price.
Or what you can do is order a pint and if it comes to what you feel is too expensive say ‘ sorry, I don’t want it, it’s too expensive - put it back’! And do I have a legal right to do that because the prices were not displayed?
We don’t do it in a restaurant or a supermarket why should we put up with it in the pub. More often they have a wine list with prices but not the beer….why not?
WOW - $3.00 Stubbies; let us into the location of said pub! 
I usually don’t ask, mostly out of habit — you just assume a pint will be “normal pub price.” But after a couple of surprise bills (especially with craft beers), I’ve started asking more often in unfamiliar places. It’s never been awkward; staff don’t seem to mind at all.
For other drinks, cocktails are where I’ve been caught out the most. Now I either stick to simpler orders or check the price if it’s not listed. Honestly, clearer pricing would help everyone, but asking upfront feels like the safest move these days.
This is a great question - at what point in the transaction are you actually obligated to complete the purchase?
