The price of an underpoured pint: Short measures cost average drinker £115 a year

Customers have a right to ask for their drinks to be topped up if they don't think they've been given what they paid for, but increasingly this is not happening, ITV News Correspondent Kelly Foran reports

Pub-goers hoping for a pint this weekend might be left shortchanged - after an investigation found two-thirds of beer and wine orders were under-poured.

Trading Standards Officers visited 77 pubs and bars, and found they were served 96 short measures out of 137 orders.

That means around 70% of drinks were less than the prescribed quantity required by the Weights and Measures Order for pints, half pints, and 175ml glasses of wine.

Some 86% of all beer ordered was short measured, as was 43% of wine.

And that shortfall adds up. CTSI Chief Executive, John Herriman, said there was a "potential detriment to the average consumer of around £115 every year."

The Chartered Trading Services Institute (CTSI) estimates for the average beer drinker, short measuring equates to a loss of £1.70 a week - or £88.40 a year.

For the average wine drinker, that amount jumps to £2.20 a week - or £114.40 a year.

The largest short measure researchers found was 15% under, on a £3.20 glass of wine in Walsall. In Belfast, a £7.20 glass of wine was found to be 13.4% under poured.

The average deficit for short-measured beer was 4%, while for wine it was 5%.

Punters might find this news hard to swallow, as the findings come at a time when the price of alcoholic drinks is at an all-time high.

The average price of a bottle of red wine has increased by 8% in the last year, while the average cost of a pint of lager is up 5.6%, according to the Office for National Statistics.

CTSI Chief Executive, John Herriman, said the findings paint "a national picture of how widespread short measuring of alcoholic drinks are."

He called on the hospitality sector to ensure consumers were being served drinks that were correctly measured.

Legally, the frothy head on a pint of beer is included in the measure, but the CTSI found that only 23% of the public think that should be the case.

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) maintains the pint measure should not include the head and consumers should have a right to a 100% liquid pint.

CAMRA national chairman Nik Anton said the CTSI's findings were "concerning". He urged consumers served anything more than 5% short to "ask bar staff for an immediate top-up."

"You are well within your rights to do this, and the staff should comply and fulfil this request," he said, "If you get a negative reaction when you do this, you can get in contact with Trading Standards to report the incident."

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