Guide to Alcohol Minimum Unit Pricing in Scotland

There is a lower limit to the price of any alcoholic drink sold to a consumer in Scotland. This applies in all settings, including bars, restaurants, supermarkets and off-licences.

Since September 2024 the "Minimum Unit Price" (or MUP) is £0.65 per 10ml of alcohol, but what does that mean to the beer drinker?

In most cases the minimum price will be irrelevant as the prices of alcoholic drinks are usually well above the legal minimum. However, in certain settings where the retailer or bar manager is setting very competitive prices MUP can put a limit to how low the price can go.

The minimum price for a pint of beer will depend on its alcoholic content (the "ABV"). A pint is 568.26 mililitres, or 56.826 units. A pint of pure alcohol would therefore have to cost at least £36.94.

Beer has a relavitely low alcoholic content, 4% is typical, and the minimum price of a pint with 4% ABV will be £1.48. The minimum price for stronger and weaker beers would be proportionately higher or lower than this.

The minimum price for a half pint will be half of the minimum price for a pint (subject to rounding of the pennies).

For CAMRA members, the existence of "50p off" dicsount vouchers that can be used for pints of real ale, cider or perry in Wetherspoon and Stonegate pubs complicates the matter. This is because you cannot use your voucher to reduce the price you pay below the legal minimum. Effectively, if you want to take advantage of your voucher the listed price of your pint must be at least 50p more than the minimum.

The table below shows the minimum price for a pint of beer with various levels of ABV, and the effective minimum price that has to apply for a CAMRA member to be able to use a 50p off voucher.

Some pubs operate a pricing policy whereby the price of the pint applies equally regardless of the strength of the beer. In these circumstances what this means for the CAMRA voucher user is that the vouchers can only be used if the ABV is below a certain strength. For example, if the price of a pint is £2.49 then the beer's ABV must be lower than 5.4%.