UK Bar Slammed For Selling 50p Drinks

It's long been a student truism that there is nothing that beats the local pound a pint night. Well, if you're in St Helens, there is: a 50p a drink night. To be honest, if we were going out on the swall in St Helens, we might well need to be bribed to be there, but at just half a quid for a vodka mixer, we're certainly listening.

The offer is the brainchild of Bonkers Bar in the centre of St Helens and it has certainly been causing controversy in the Lancashire town.

Local residents are dead set against the deal, which is available on vodka mixers and Jägers. St Helens has been plagued by antisocial behaviour and violence in recent years and many locals think that encouraging folk to drink will have an adverse effect - though Bonkers themselves are at pains to point out that there are yet to be any issues.

"No wonder there are fights and knife attacks in St Helens people are just going to drink as much as they can at that price," wrote a woman in a St Helens residents group on Facebook. A former door worker, Danny Fox, was stabbed to death in the street just over a year ago.

Plenty of other residents agreed: "No, no, no. More assaults in the town - just what fookin we need," wrote another group member, while a third added "OMG 50p, god help us. How irresponsible of the owners."

Not all locals were upset about the offer, however.

"You all moan that the town is in decline. Somebody has made a new bar which will bring in revenue for the town plus create jobs and you all still moan," wrote one social media user, while another added "This bar won't make people fight if they are going to fight they will fight. Fights happen in London where it's £5 a drink do they not?"

The bar themselves were unrepentant. "We've ran this past the council and the licensing committee and the police and trading standards and none of them have a problem with it at all," they told the Liverpool Echo. "Fifty pence drinks aren't a new thing for St Helens, it has been done in the past and it will be done again in the future."

Topics: Viral, Bar, Community, UK

Mark McGowan

Mark is a journalist at LADbible, who joined in 2015 after a year as a freelance writer. In the past he blogged for independent football fan channel Redmen TV, after graduating from Staffordshire University with degrees in journalism and English literature. He has worked on campaigns such as UOKM8? and IIOC.