Cheap Beer
Apr 26th 2011, 9:32 am
#16
Account Closed
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 2,502
Re: Cheap Beer
Yeah. I'm paying between 3-4 quid for a pint of decent beer in London.
I'm of the opinion that alcohol should be just as expensive in the UK as in the UAE. It might solve the yob problem.
I'm of the opinion that alcohol should be just as expensive in the UK as in the UAE. It might solve the yob problem.
Is it really that much off a rip off? 20% more?
From what I can see beer prices in AED have been pretty much unchanged since 2008. Sterling has devalued by more than 20% in the same period. So you could argue that there is your difference.
Anyway, it's not surprising that it's more expensive - there is nowhere near by that makes it, it's essentially illegal and the customers (on salaries that are 30-50% higher than they would be in their home markets) can afford it. You would do the same. No one forces you to drink it.
From what I can see beer prices in AED have been pretty much unchanged since 2008. Sterling has devalued by more than 20% in the same period. So you could argue that there is your difference.
Anyway, it's not surprising that it's more expensive - there is nowhere near by that makes it, it's essentially illegal and the customers (on salaries that are 30-50% higher than they would be in their home markets) can afford it. You would do the same. No one forces you to drink it.
Apr 26th 2011, 9:40 am
#17
Down and out
Joined: Jul 2008
Location: Re-Expated
Posts: 872
Re: Cheap Beer
If you strip out duty and taxation it is still really a rip-off.
After you knock off VAT and duty from an average pint in the UK it's around GBP 2.00 for the beer itself.
In the UAE, alcohol tax is 33%, assuming Dubai there's also 20% luxury hotel tax and service to pay, so an AED 35 pint is around 3.50, or about 75% more.
At the IV's AED 21 a pint it's in fact pretty much equivalent to UK prices
After you knock off VAT and duty from an average pint in the UK it's around GBP 2.00 for the beer itself.
In the UAE, alcohol tax is 33%, assuming Dubai there's also 20% luxury hotel tax and service to pay, so an AED 35 pint is around 3.50, or about 75% more.
At the IV's AED 21 a pint it's in fact pretty much equivalent to UK prices
Apr 26th 2011, 9:42 am
#18
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Disneyland, Dubai
Posts: 15,887
Re: Cheap Beer
I was going to write that arguably alcohol in the UK is too cheap. I didn't due to my three line post rule and I wasn't going to let Norm make me break it again.
Apr 26th 2011, 9:47 am
#19
Down and out
Joined: Jul 2008
Location: Re-Expated
Posts: 872
Re: Cheap Beer
There is no evidence whatsoever that increasing the price will ever make any difference. Beer is way more expensive in Scandinavia and they have an alcohol/yob problem, yet way cheaper in southern Europe and they don't. It's an attitude problem.
Apr 26th 2011, 9:55 am
#20
Account Closed
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 2,502
Re: Cheap Beer
The Scandinavian yob problem is much smaller than the UK's.
Culture certainly plays a role. Attitudes towards alcohol certainly does. The UK's always had a streak of drunkiness throughout its history and no other European country celebrates being hungover as much as the UK does, but it's really grown out of hand for a large sector of the population due to too much alcohol too readily available at too cheap prices.
Take New Zealand. NZ used to have one of the most stringent sets of alcohol laws in the anglo world, right up to the late 1980s. The laws were liberalised in the 1990s to the point that's hardly any restriction on the sale of booze. The result? Public drunkiness, binge drinking and alcohol related incidents soared.
Culture certainly plays a role. Attitudes towards alcohol certainly does. The UK's always had a streak of drunkiness throughout its history and no other European country celebrates being hungover as much as the UK does, but it's really grown out of hand for a large sector of the population due to too much alcohol too readily available at too cheap prices.
Take New Zealand. NZ used to have one of the most stringent sets of alcohol laws in the anglo world, right up to the late 1980s. The laws were liberalised in the 1990s to the point that's hardly any restriction on the sale of booze. The result? Public drunkiness, binge drinking and alcohol related incidents soared.
Apr 26th 2011, 11:30 am
#21
MODERATOR
Joined: Dec 2004
Location: Dubai
Posts: 6,373
Re: Cheap Beer
).Be free - write what you need to. I only force you as much as alcohol forces me to drink it
N.
Apr 26th 2011, 11:36 am
#22
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Disneyland, Dubai
Posts: 15,887
Re: Cheap Beer
As for the three line rule... it's probably really because I have nothing meaningful to say... that said, it's a discipline I try and maintain at work too - I always find people draft amazing emails that are works of art but I struggle to read them.
Apr 26th 2011, 11:38 am
#23
MODERATOR
Joined: Dec 2004
Location: Dubai
Posts: 6,373
Re: Cheap Beer
It's not even about how much people drink. I know people who drink massive, unhealthy amounts of booze who are very well behaved and wouldn't dream of bothering anyone.
Conversely I know people who have a glass of beer or wine and turn into the bane of humanity...you're right about attitude being the problem. And I also think the yobs are not representative of the majority of drinkers - they just make for more interesting news.
N.
Apr 26th 2011, 11:42 am
#24
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 13,553
Re: Cheap Beer
I couldn't agree more.
It's not even about how much people drink. I know people who drink massive, unhealthy amounts of booze who are very well behaved and wouldn't dream of bothering anyone.
Conversely I know people who have a glass of beer or wine and turn into the bane of humanity...you're right about attitude being the problem. And I also think the yobs are not representative of the majority of drinkers - they just make for more interesting news.
N.
It's not even about how much people drink. I know people who drink massive, unhealthy amounts of booze who are very well behaved and wouldn't dream of bothering anyone.
Conversely I know people who have a glass of beer or wine and turn into the bane of humanity...you're right about attitude being the problem. And I also think the yobs are not representative of the majority of drinkers - they just make for more interesting news.
N.
Apr 26th 2011, 11:47 am
#25
MODERATOR
Joined: Dec 2004
Location: Dubai
Posts: 6,373
Re: Cheap Beer
The Scandinavian yob problem is much smaller than the UK's.
Culture certainly plays a role. Attitudes towards alcohol certainly does. The UK's always had a streak of drunkiness throughout its history and no other European country celebrates being hungover as much as the UK does, but it's really grown out of hand for a large sector of the population due to too much alcohol too readily available at too cheap prices.
Take New Zealand. NZ used to have one of the most stringent sets of alcohol laws in the anglo world, right up to the late 1980s. The laws were liberalised in the 1990s to the point that's hardly any restriction on the sale of booze. The result? Public drunkiness, binge drinking and alcohol related incidents soared.
Culture certainly plays a role. Attitudes towards alcohol certainly does. The UK's always had a streak of drunkiness throughout its history and no other European country celebrates being hungover as much as the UK does, but it's really grown out of hand for a large sector of the population due to too much alcohol too readily available at too cheap prices.
Take New Zealand. NZ used to have one of the most stringent sets of alcohol laws in the anglo world, right up to the late 1980s. The laws were liberalised in the 1990s to the point that's hardly any restriction on the sale of booze. The result? Public drunkiness, binge drinking and alcohol related incidents soared.
In the West we still seem to think taking absolutist and puritanical views towards booze will solve the problem (just like prohibition which really helped didn't it?
). Far better to promote a drinking culture where the highest ideal is to behave and enjoy than to keep raising prices, banning it or trying to stop people...all that does is punish the majority of responsible drinkers.
N.
