The Sunderland pubs selling pints for less than £1 in pre-lockdown sales

With bars forced to close at 10pm on Wednesday, November 4, for at least a month as part of the latest coronavirus restrictions, landlords are facing the choice of either pouring away certain brews – which would be beyond their sell-by dates in December – or slashing their prices.

Among the Wearside pubs to reward customers for their loyalty is The Guide Post, in Ryhope Street South, Ryhope, where cask ales such as Timothy Taylor’s Landlord and the city’s own Double Maxim are now just 99p a pint compared to their usual price of around £3.

Other famous tipples such as John Smith’s bitter and Foster’s lager are also selling at around half their normal cost at £1.50p a pint.

Manager Keith Dewart, 56, who runs the pub with wife, Julie, 54, said the offers were to help avoid a repeat of March’s lockdown when the pub had to pour away more than 1,000 pints.

He explained: “Last time around there was just no time to do anything and no-one knew for certain how long it was going to last for.

"With cask ales, for instance, you only have a week or so once they are opened before the fresh air gets to them and they are out of date.

“This time we spoke to our head office and decided to reduce our prices to recover the price of some of the stock and to reward our customers for the loyalty they have shown us since we reopened in July.

"We are very much a community pub where people have a laugh and carry on and our regulars have certainly supported us.”

The Guide Post’s growing reputation for serving real ales has earned it a place in the Campaign for Real Ale’s newly-published Good Beer Guide.

The coronavirus outbreak, however, has meant that it has had to postpone plans to open a microbrewery in an adjoining building.

Nor is it the only Sunderland pub to slash prices before lockdown.

The Stonegate Pub Company, which runs a string of Wearside pubs as part of its near 4,500-strong nationwide portfolio, has also announced that the price of a pint of its cask ales will be 95p until lockdown.

Among the venues where drinkers are benefitting are Yates, The Chesters, The Blue Bell, The Board Inn and The Washington Arms.

Stonegate managing director Helen Charlesworth said: “Cask ale only has a shelf life of a few days once its tapped and spiled, and in March the British Beer and Pub Association estimated that over 70 million pints of beer were poured down the drain.

“We also would prefer our customers to enjoy the beer, responsibly, of course, rather than pouring it away.”

As for whether beer is literally poured down the drain, Mr Dewart said: “It is but you can’t just do it willy nilly.

"You have to ring Northumbrian Water for a time slot and they tell what you can pour away and when so that you don’t cause a blockage.”

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