A Leeds pub has been giving away free pints after being told that a 25p promotional price breached licensing rules.
Whitelocks Ale House, which first opened its doors in 1715, launched a four-day promotion on 26 February offering customers their first pint of the revived 1970s pale ale Double Diamond for the retro price of 25p.
However, the city centre venue’s owner, Edward Mason, said the offer was halted later that day following contact from the local council. According to the authority, the promotion breached mandatory licence conditions relating to minimum alcohol pricing.
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While England does not operate a statutory minimum unit price for alcohol – unlike Scotland and Wales – legislation introduced in 2014 prohibits the sale of alcohol below cost price, defined as the combined cost of duty and VAT.
Mr Mason said he was informed that the 25p pint constituted “an irresponsible promotion” and was being sold below cost, the BBC reports.
In response, and after seeking legal advice, the pub announced it would instead offer the first pint of the 3.8% ale free of charge as a gesture of thanks to loyal customers.
“They still insisted that we were not allowed to do that, and instructed us to cease the promotion in any form,” Mr Mason said.
However, a licensing lawyer subsequently advised the pub that offering the drink for free was “completely legal” and would not breach its licence conditions.
A council spokesperson said that “the proposed 25p pint promotion would breach mandatory licence conditions on minimum alcohol pricing and irresponsible drinks promotions”, when asked why it was deemed irresponsible to charge 25p for a pint but not to give it away for free.