Low Income Diary 3: Drink at home or pub – or neither?

Before I became a pensioner I was a very sociable sort of person and enjoyed good company and debates with like-minded people. I am no longer that person, which saddens me immensely. I have not changed within myself but because I am on a low fixed income – and have a greedy landlord who puts the rent up for no good reason.

That makes me sound bitter. And talking of bitter, I enjoy a good pint now and again. But how is it possible to enjoy a few beers in the pub on a low income?

One solution put forward by some who shall remain nameless is to buy beer in a supermarket and drink at home. My answer to that is simple and can verge on the impolite, mainly because I am not a fan of supermarkets. However, drinking at home feels odd to me, especially as I live on my own. Drinking with friends at home – say a warm summer evening in the garden for example – is perfectly fine.

I like pubs and I do not like supermarkets. I do not want to encourage one at the expense of the other. That is just how I am and you do not have to agree with it.

It is supermarkets using their ludicrously big buying power to screw down the price of beer with producers that has led to the demise of so many pubs. They did it with farmers, which is why there are so few high street greengrocers, butchers and bakers. Of course, supermarkets did not kill off pubs – or the high street – all by themselves, but they are major contributors.

Some people believe that losing pubs and high streets is a reasonable price to pay for, well, lower prices. I can understand that point of view. I just have a different opinion.

The price of beer in a pub is, and always was, more expensive than buying cans in an off-license (remember those?) or a supermarket. Of course it is. Just as a pasty is cheaper in a supermarket than a café.

I like pubs, especially ones with friendly staff, a change of beers to spice things up a bit, and customers you can have a good conversation with. But nowadays the price of beer in pubs is high, and in some cases higher than it probably should be.

For example, I can go to four different pubs within a short walk of each other in my home town and pay anything from £3.70 to £4.80 for Jail Ale, brewed not that many miles away on Dartmoor. Now why is that?

If I venture out on the bus to Ashburton that same pint was, on my last visit, £5.60. Thank goodness I don’t live in Ashburton!

The answer to the question is stupidly – and unnecessarily – complex, and I do not have time to go into that here. You’d be bored anyway.

So, what does this all have to do with living on a low fixed income?

Some months ago I thought I would have to give up going to the pub altogether. Covid taught me how to do that – and survive. But I miss the pub, or rather a combination of the beer and the company, and I do not see why a person on a low fixed income should not imbibe – now and again.

The conclusion I have drawn is that I must restrict myself to pubs where prices are reasonable and I must limit myself to no more than two or three pints per visit. I have set aside a budget for two pub (or café) visits each month. I would rather feel free to enjoy a pint when I feel like it – as I used to – but finances do not allow for that. Two visits are better than none at all, and believe you me, I make the most of it.

I can enjoy little luxuries after all!