There does need to be a little nuance though, since the vast majority of pub owners are actually on a wet lease then the pub itself doesn't get all of the margi

There does need to be a little nuance though, since the vast majority of pub owners are actually on a wet lease then the pub itself doesn't get all of the margin, the breweries normally take 20-25% of that margin. So an example from a recent wholesale catalogue, 1 30L keg which you can probably sell 58 pints out of will cost around £150 so that gets your cost price of around £2.58 / plus VAT and beer duty and you're up to cost price of over £3.00 / pint So margins are variable but as you can see if you want to sell at around the average price around the country which is £4 / pint then you're not talking about a massive margin. The reason why food is a popular option for bar owners is that the breweries don't take any of the margin so the owner takes all the profit from food sales, plus in many ways, the food is extra income from people that would be taking up the space to drink too.