As a Uni student, money is often tight, yet the message from your friend saying, “Pub?”, is a difficult invitation to turn down. With summer rolling in, and the days becoming longer, it will not be long before the beer gardens are full again. However, what we all have noticed for some time now is how the prices of our favourite drinks have been on the rise. My brother began university in the early 2010s, quite some time ago, I was interested in how the pints I am buying now have changed in price since then. Let’s look at the numbers.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the average price of a pint of lager on draught has increased by almost £2 since 2011, from £3.02 in March 2011 to £4.83 in January 2025. That is an astonishing 60% increase. Shockingly, some final year students who arrived on campus in September 2022 will have seen a 17% hike in the average pint cost in that time. Despite the 1.7% tax cut on draught alcohol announced in this Labour government’s first budget, average prices for draught pints are still rapidly approaching the £5 mark.
The price of a night out, say having 6 pints, will cost you £28.98, over £7 more expensive than 2018, when my sister left for university. The increasing prices of alcohol have coincided with the trend of the Cost-of-Living crisis, where inflation on commonly purchased items, as well as household bills, have increased more than average wages.
The price increase of alcohol has driven some interesting inventions. One such being the app Pintly which shows users the price of their favourite drinks in different pubs in an area. Pintly still mostly operates in larger cities but perhaps could be useful on your next trip to Nottingham or Leicester.
The stats show what we all already know, the price of alcohol has increased since our elder siblings went to university, and the prices will likely increase for when our younger siblings attend. You could make a mental note, next time you’re out in town, of how much the night cost you, something to tell the future grandkids when they complain about their drink costing £20.
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