Pub charges drinkers £1 per half hour to use outdoor heaters
17 November 2023, 11:57
A pub has startedf charging drinkers to sit under outdoor heaters.
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The pub in Stockton-on-Tees, is asking customers to pay a pound for every 30 minutes they sit under the outdoor heating lamps.
Bosses at Hydes Bar Norton say the monthly cost of running the outdoor heaters ‘exceeds £1,000’ and so they had no option but to start charging punters.
The pub took to its Facebook page to announce the news.
It said in an online post that energy charges are now two and a half times what they were last year.
Pub bosses said that “following a review… we have made the decision to install token metres for the outdoor canopy heaters”.
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Tokens for the heaters can be purchased at the bar, the pub added.
The pub’s bosses said the only other option would have been to raise drinks prices, which they didn’t want to do.
The post continued: “Despite the bar being almost empty and heated inside, during quiet daytimes we have had people asking for the outdoor heaters to be put on. The running costs for these on an average month would exceed £1,000, a cost we cannot sustain.”
“Like many hospitality venues, our operating costs have substantially increased over the last 18 months,” the pub said via Facebook. “We have to keep our costs low where we can and account for rising charges.”
Regulars said the decision “sounds fair enough” but another posted: “put yea thermals on.”
Another said: “I'm all for this.”
