CAMRA's full pint fight shelved by government

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The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is vowing to fight on for a 100 per cent full pint, despite the government's lack of support.In spite of huge...

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is vowing to fight on for a 100 per cent full pint, despite the government's lack of support.

In spite of huge levels of support from MPs for a pre-election Commons motion calling for the measure, the Department for Trade & Industry (DTI) said it was still considering its response to previous consultation on the issue.

And the government's failure to include a Weights & Measures Bill in the Queen's Speech means there is little chance of a 100 per cent liquid pint being made law in the near future.

But Jonathan Mail, public affairs manager for CAMRA, confirmed: "The issue of a full pint is still very much on our agenda, it's not an issue we are backing away from. The government has told us it would look at the proposal and we want to see a conclusion."

CAMRA received encouragement for its bid for 100 per cent full pints when 300 MPs pledged their support for an early day motion on the matter in March.

The motion, proposed by Labour MP Dennis Turner, was seen as an obvious vote winner.

CAMRA had previously accused the government of "shilly-shallying" over the issue.

But Martin Rawlings from the British Beer & Pub Association said that with the raft of legislation and issues currently facing pubs, the demand for a full pint was insignificant. "If there was a real problem, there would be complaints from people," he said. "But there aren't."

Pressure for a fuller pint continues to hound the industry, which won its fight against such a move in March 2002.

It claimed the law would be unworkable and drive up the cost of a pint, and instead agreed with the DTI to serve a minimum 95 per cent liquid pint, with top-ups on request.

A survey carried out by pubs website Fancyapint.com earlier this year found only three per cent of pub-goers were concerned about the size of the head on their pint.

Gordon Butler, a director of fancyapint.com, said: "We've never had a single email or letter from anyone about the issue.

"The simple fact of the matter is if you get a short measure, you can just get your pint topped up."