How to cut costs on your booze bill as prices rise post-lockdown

 WE will spend £7billion on beer this year as the price of a pub pint nudges £6 for some after Covid. But you can slash your booze bill and still get merry.

The British love their pubs, but many say a pint is up to £1 too expensive, a YouGov study shows.

Some crisis-hit boozers, trying to claw out of lockdown debt, have upped their prices — with a pint now up to £4, on average.

But in London, where the average is £5.19, some bars are charging £6, making a round of six drinks close to £40 if including a tip for table service.

Elsewhere a pint is £4.34 in Birmingham and £3.94 in Manchester but just £3.08 in Dundee.

Join four million drinkers at social clubs and you will enjoy bargain beers for around £1.50 in the North and £3.50 in the South.

Pick from 1,800 working men’s clubs, 427 Royal British Legion venues, social clubs and hundreds of Conservative, Labour and Liberal clubs.

Forget stereotypes of old men and Seventies furniture, venues are refurbished, popular with families and have a wide selection of drinks.

Annual membership is generally £5 to £25. Anyone can join, male or female, as long as they meet a club’s requirements ­— usually passing a brief interview or a referral from a member.

They offer cheap drinks, as they are run for the benefit of members, rather than as commercial businesses like pubs.

John Baker, a London branch secretary for the Working Men’s Club and Institute Union (CIU), said: “Club life is so different from pub life — it’s a lot cheaper and you make more friends, as most customers are regulars.

“We’ve moved with the times, with modern, family-friendly clubs, weekend entertainment and a real mix of ages. There’s a wide range of drinks and anyone can join. Speak to your local CIU club.”

Drinkers can also save around £2 a pint by supping at Wetherspoon, which has 870 pubs and offers £2.99 pints in London and £1.69 Ruddles ale in Yorkshire.

The chain — wrongly sneered at by some — has won awards for its beer, has a bumper low-price menu and is recognised for good bar service.

Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said: “We are far cheaper than other pubs, as we price drinks to attract customers.

“We are popular with customers, with the quality of our pubs recognised by the Good Pub Guide.”

Other ways to cut your pint costs include swapping from premium to mid-range lagers, grabbing free drink offers via mailing lists, drink­ing in cheaper cities or at home ­ — and the nuclear option, going teetotal.

So stop crying into your pint when your beer bill arrives and follow our handy guide showing you how to get more drinks for your money. 

Ring the changes with doorbell

 HOLIDAYS, lunch dates and nights out are back – so what better time than now to put a ring on it? I mean a doorbell, not a diamond.

As we spend more time away from home, video doorbell leader Ring has announced the latest version of its original doorbell is now available for just £49.

The Ring Video Doorbell Wired previously cost £150 so this huge price drop means more families can access the added security and convenience.

This model connects to existing wiring and lets you see, hear and speak to whoever is at your door, from wherever you are via an app on your phone.

This is incredibly handy when a package arrives while you are out. Answer the doorbell from your phone and let the delivery driver know where to leave it. The Ring Video Doorbell also uses motion detection to send you alerts when someone steps on to your ­doorstep, whether they ring the doorbell or not.

You can specify the area of detection so that you are not bombarded with alerts every time a car drives by.

It comes with a 30-day free trial of Ring Protect – which automatically saves any videos it records for 30 days so you can rewatch and share them with neighbours or local police if need be.

Ring Protect starts at £2.50 per month and is not required to use the video doorbell – you just won’t be able to save, rewatch and share the ­videos or capture photos from your device once the free trial ends.

Below are some other handy security ideas . . . 

RING VIDEO DOORBELL PRO 2: For those who don’t mind splurging, this is Ring’s top premium doorbell at £219. It boasts features including head-to-toe video so you can see packages left on the doorstep.

RING ALARM 2.0: This £219 security system is simple for users to install and provides a great, commitment-free alarm ­system that works alongside Ring video doorbells within the same smartphone app.

RING SPOTLIGHT CAM: The £179 motion-activated spotlight and night-vision camera can alert you to intruders – and even scare them away with a handy siren you can activate from your smartphone.