The average price of a pint of real ale in Oxford has now risen to more than £5, a new survey of city pubs has revealed.
Members of Oxford CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) conducted the survey earlier this month - their first since 2019.
They also found a decline in choice of real ales since 2019 which they said would come as no surprise to people watching the rise and rise of craft keg beers, now featured by most pubs.
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According to the survey, the average price of a pint of real ale has shot up to £5.06, compared to £4.19 three years ago, as breweries and pubs battle against the rising cost of everything from raw ingredients to energy for heating, lighting and cooking, and staff who are in short supply.
Oxford CAMRA spokesman Dave Richardson said: "Disappointing though the reduction in choice has proved to be, it may well turn out that 2019 was the high water mark before the enormous challenges brought by Covid, the cost of living crisis and sky-high energy costs.
"Both breweries and pubs were often cutting back on real ale to play safe with keg beers having a much longer shelf life.
"But in truth the picture isn’t much better in the Oxford suburbs, county towns and villages, where the £5 pint is firmly established and anything under about £4.50 a rarity and a relief."
The most expensive pint of real ale was at the Turf Tavern.
The survey, organised by Steve Lawrence, involved visiting 25 pubs in an area bounded by the railway station, the fork of Banbury and Woodstock Roads, Magdalen Bridge and Folly Bridge.
In the 2019 survey CAMRA members visited 28 pubs, but since then the Mitre and Eagle and Child have closed, with the Mitre becoming Gusto restaurant and the Eagle and Child expected to reopen in the long term.
CAMRA members found a total of 100 real ales in all (in 2019, 125) with 72 different ones (90) from 41 breweries (46).
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The best represented breweries were Greene King with 13 offerings, Animal/XT with seven, White Horse with six and Fuller’s with five.
The most common beers with four appearances each were Greene King Abbot, Timothy Taylor Landlord and Sharp’s Doom Bar which, like Abbot, is owned by a brewing giant.
The same beers were the most common in 2019 plus Wychwood’s Hobgoblin.
The least expensive pint was at Wetherspoon pubs such as the Four Candles in George Street.
The pubs with the widest choice of real ales were the Royal Blenheim with 10 and the Turf Tavern with nine, the Turf choice including two Greene King ales and four house ales brewed by Greene King.
The Royal Blenheim keeps its crown as the pub with the best choice.
There were three pubs with just one real ale on offer – the Cow & Creek, Lighthouse and Teardrop, in the Covered Market, which usually has two.
The recently opened bar in the market, Tap Social’s Market Tap, hopes to introduce one cask ale shortly.
The cheapest pint after the two Wetherspoon pubs (£1.99, compared to £1.69 in 2019) was the White Rabbit with Oxford Prospect at £3.80 (in 2019 the Royal Blenheim was cheapest after Wetherspoon at £3.30).
The dearest pint of real ale this year was at The Turf with Reggie’s Turf by Greene King setting back customers £6.45.
The actual overall average price of a pint of real ale was £5.06 (2019, £4.19).
The average price in pubs with more than one beer was the Turf £5.87, Head of the River £5.79, The Bear £5.54, St Aldates Tavern £5.43, and the King’s Arms £5.42.
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In 2019, the average at pubs with more than one beer was led by the Head of the River at £4.69, then the Bear £4.63, Chequers at £4.53, and King’s Arms at £4.51.
The cheapest average price this year was at the White Rabbit (£4.44), compared to the Wheatsheaf at £3.60 in 2019.
The survey covered real ale - pints of lager can be much cheaper.
Mr Richardson said it was worth celebrating how few pub closures there have been in Oxford in recent years.
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