PoundPub: Newark pub sells pints for £1.50 after The Mayze is rebranded

A pub chain that sells pints for £1.50 and halves for £1 is rebranding a well-known Newark pub as its latest venture.

The rebranding was taking place at The Mayze, Castlegate, to turn it into the latest PoundPub, a budget pub business that is expanding across the Midlands and the north.

On Tuesday, a Mayze customer would have paid £3.35 for the cheapest lager and £3.25 for the cheapest bitter.

From Wednesday, lagers, ciders and beers, including Fosters, Strongbow, Theakstons and John Smith’s, are available at £1.50 a pint or £1 for a half.

Bottled lager will be available at £1 a bottle.

The Mayze is run by Here For You Hospitality, which also runs PoundPub.

The chain is planning to apply to change its licence to enable it to open from 9am, as it has done at its ten other pubs, from Birmingham to Stockton-on-Tees.

Managing director Mr Mike Wardell said: “Here we had an existing site where it could fit well so that is what we have done.

“The branding will change and the opening hours will change. There will be the addition of TVs and clearly the pricing will be lower.

“The feedback elsewhere has been brilliant and we have quadrupled the volume of beer we are selling.”

Mr Wardell said the cheap prices did not mean the pubs encouraged excessive drinking.

“Any bad reaction has only come from people who don’t want to drink at them, and at the end of the day they are not our customers,” he said.

“There is a misconception that because it is cheap people will drink more, which is not the case. We are responsible retailers with a value-for-money product.

“It will feel more like a pub did about ten years ago. They have a really good atmosphere with people who just want to enjoy a couple of pints.

“Part of the group we want to attract as well is slightly older guys who used to go to Working Men’s Clubs and places like that.

“Other pubs might not like it but it will bring a bit of competition.”

The police were unaware of the rebranding because so far there has been no need for a change to the pub’s licence.

Inspector Andy Gan, of Newark Police, said: “We discourage the selling of alcohol at cheap prices because it encourages people to drink too much.

“People who drink too much either cause problems for themselves or leave themselves at risk of harm because they are vulnerable.

“The risk is that other pubs could react and bring their prices down and that then lessens the experience for everyone. It’s then a downward spiral.”

Mr David Moore, chairman of the Newark branch of the Campaign For Real Ale, said he did not believe a PoundPub would be good for the pub trade in Newark.

“It will encourage excessive drinking at silly prices,” he said.

“This is not good for the industry. We want decent pubs selling good beer. £1.50 a pint can’t be the way forward.

“Typically nowadays at a decent pub you will get two pints for £5.

“It might not affect quality pubs where people go for the quality beer, but there are many that it will hit.”