Pub Criticised For Happy Hour That Starts At 9AM

A pub has been criticised for offering a happy hour that starts at 9AM.

The Uptown Bar in the seaside town of Great Yarmouth starts serving booze at lower than usual prices first thing in the morning when most of us are desperately reaching for our first cup of coffee at work.

That means that you can have a pint of Fosters lager for just £1.70 or a pint of John Smiths for £1.90 instead.

The breakfast of champions, you might think, but many have disagreed.

To be fair, a lot of pubs now open at 9AM, but not many of them have a happy hour.

That happy 'hour' actually goes on for two hours until 11AM, when prices return to normal.

Hey, it's not just the alcoholic beer on sale at a knocked-down price, though. A post on the pub's Facebook page, whilst advertising the beer (and other offers) makes it clear that punters can get alcohol-free beer for £1.70 all day.

Has anyone ever bought a pint of Heineken 0.0 at 9am? Who knows?

However, not everyone thinks this is a good thing. After all, according to charity Alcohol Change UK, there were 7,697 alcohol-related deaths in 2017.

That's no laughing matter, for sure.

The Department of Health and Social Care also estimated last month that alcohol-related health problems cost the NHS £3.5bn each year.

Dawn Titterington lost her son Matthew Stiebrins to alcoholism in 2012 aged just 29. She thinks that the Uptown Bar shouldn't be allowed to serve alcohol that early on in the day.

She told the Metro: "If you can't smoke in a pub, why should you be able to buy a pint at 9am?

"The day's a write-off, how can you go and work a job when you've been drinking? It's disgusting."

That being said, some of those who go to the happy hour are more than happy that it starts so early.

Sixty-four-year-old Ray Whiting claims that the timing is great for him because he has health problems and can't get out to the pub in the evenings.

He argued: "I'll usually pop in for a few drinks in the morning or early afternoon and then head home.

"It's not safe for someone like me who has health problems to come to the pub in the evening.

"I really like the atmosphere here and coming to the pub gets me out the house."

A spokesperson from Alcohol Change UK said: "Short-term price drops like this can encourage people to drink too much at any time of the day.

"Broadly speaking, the cheaper alcohol is, the more alcohol harm we see. That's why the Scottish and Welsh governments are acting to address this with minimum price measures.

"It's time for the whole of the UK to do so too."

LADbible reached out to the owners of Uptown Bar, Mop & Ingrid, who told us: "We do an offer 9AM - 11AM on selected drinks after realising there was a trade for older retired people wanting to socialise and have a drink earlier in the day.

"These people [would] rather do this than coming out later into the evening.

"After spending 30 plus years working in the pub and nightclub industry we now prefer the earlier start and finish. It seems to work well for both ourselves and our customers."

Featured Image Credit: Google Maps

Topics: uk news, Food And Drink, Weird

Tom Wood

Tom Wood is a LADbible journalist and Twin Peaks enthusiast. Despite having a career in football cut short by a chronic lack of talent, he managed to obtain degrees from both the University of London and Salford. According to his French teacher, at the weekends he mostly likes to play football and go to the park with his brother. Contact Tom on [email protected]

@TPWagwim