WITH the cost of pints skyrocketing, a night out on the town can easily cost you triple figures if you’re not careful.
But one savvy Brit managed to drink completely for FREE for an entire day with some easy hacks that anyone can use.
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Shocked by London’s “absurd” beer prices – with pints now hitting over £8 in some pubs – 27-year-old influencer Thomas Pearson decided to see if he could go 24 hours partying in the capital without spending any money on booze.
However, he said there was also a “serious side” to the challenge – he wanted to help raise awareness that Britain’s pub culture is being “hollowed out”.
“If pubs now have to charge £7 a pint to survive, yet also resort to giving pints away for free to lure people in, something in the system is clearly broken,” Thomas, from Cornwall, wrote on his online blog The Bigger Picture.
He started his challenge before he left home, by signing up for “every bar app, mailing list, and loyalty program” he could find.
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And he was stunned by the amount of free drinks he could get just by using this hack.
Before he had even left the house, he had a whopping total of 37 free drinks lined up from various apps and vouchers – from pints, cocktails, wine and shots.
Don’t be put off if you’re not based in London like Thomas, many of the apps and chains he used are available across the UK.
He got free pints in O’Neill’s and Nicholson’s chains just by registering for their loyalty schemes, while he was even gifted a free Aperol Spritz in All Bar One as a welcome gift.
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Tonight Josephine and Simmons – where drinks can cost over £12 – also offered him free cocktails for signing up to their newsletters or clubs.
He also signed up to an app called DUSK, which gives punters one free drink every night across different pubs and bars.
This offered him a choice of free drinks from a pint of Guinness to an Old Fashioned.
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Thomas said: “A few places didn’t care if it was your actual birthday; they sent “birthday month” free drink coupons upon signup. (So yes, I had multiple birthdays in one night.)”
Other venues held giveaways for free pints, such as Brewdog in Waterloo, which had a game where punters had to tap a button at the exact 10-second mark to win a freebie.
Thomas and his friends, who also joined him in his challenge, strategically drank water and soft drinks in between their rounds of booze to stay hydrated.
“The toughest challenge wasn’t obtaining the drinks, it was keeping pace with the sheer volume of alcohol being offered,” he said.
Full list of pubs and chains that give you free drinks for signing up to their loyalty schemes
THESE are all the apps and loyalty schemes Thomas signed up to in order to get free drinks:
- DUSK App
- Circe’s Rooftop
- Blame Gloria
- The Escapologist
- Tonight Josesphine
- Nikki’s Bar
- Brewdog
- Simmon’s
- Slug & Lettuce
- London Cocktail Club
- Barrio
- The Court
- Burlock
- Nightjar Shoreditch
- Little Bat Bar
- The Alchemist
- O’Neill’s
- All Bar One
- MIXR Sport
- Munich Cricket Club
- Greene King Sport
- Greene King Regular
- Nicholson’s
- Brown’s Brasserie & Bar
- Lucky Saint
- The Falcon – Clapham
- Luna Springs
- Miller & Carter
- The No32
By the end of the 24 hours, Thomas’ pub crawl had taken him to a total of 11 pubs and bars – and he’d managed to nab a huge £145.45 worth of free drinks.
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Or, as he worked out, the equivalent of around 21 pints at London prices.
However, he said the number of venues giving away freebies just to get people inside their doors also hammered home to him that “London’s pub economy is on a knife’s edge, and that our beloved pubs might need some serious help beyond apps and vouchers”.
How to stay safe when drinking
MANY Brits like a drink, but it it’s important to be aware of guidance on healthy intake.
The UK Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines recommend it’s safest for both men and women to drink no more than 14 units a week, spread over three or more days with several drink-free days, and no bingeing.
For reference, a single shot of spirit is 1 unit, a small glass of wine is 1.5 units, a large glass of wine is 3 units, a bottle of lager, beer or cider if 1.7 units, a can of lager, beer or cider is 2.4 units and a pint is 2 units.
It’s called “low risk” rather than “safe” because there’s no safe drinking level.
While global health bodies say no level of drinking is risk-free, the guidelines are there to help people try and stay in control of their drinking.
According to Drinkaware, our bodies can only process around one unit of alcohol an hour.
By drinking a lot quickly, the amount of alcohol in your bloodstream can stop your body from working properly.
This puts you at greater risk of accidents, alcohol poisoning, and other short- and long-term health issues.
Long-term, drinking more than 14 units a week is linked to cancer (mouth, throat, breast and more), stroke, heart disease, liver disease, brain damage and poor mental health.
If you need support with alcohol, visit https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-advice/alcohol-support/