Wine drinkers offered small glasses in trial

Wine drinkers in Scotland will now be offered small 125ml glasses of wine in pubs as part of a scheme by health authorities to “bring more choice” to pub-goers.

One in seven pubs in the UK don’t offer small measures of wine, according to a study from 2014 (Photo: Wiki)

The trial is taking place in East Dunbartonshire, where more than 100 pubs have volunteered to offer 125ml glasses of wine along with the typical 175ml or 250ml glass.

It is being backed by the Scottish Government Alcohol Industry Partnership, a collection of drinks producers and government departments that seeks to lessen the ill-effects of alcohol abuse.

The SGAIP is behind the 125ml Wine Campaign, which is encouraging all on-trade outlets in Scotland to offer 125ml measures of wine as the norm.

A study last year found that one in seven pubs in the UK don’t serve the small 125ml measure at all. This breaks trading laws by forcing customers to upgrade to larger portions at a higher profit margin, the study commissioned by insurers Direct Line said.

“Our study amongst non-chain pubs across the UK found that 15% would not serve customers a 125ml glass of wine and of those that said they would, 29% admitted this measure was not listed anywhere on the menu,” it said.

The report also found that one in ten bars offer the “large” 250ml wine measure as the standard size.

Correction: 25/11/2015: It was previously reported that the 100 pubs taking part in the scheme volunteered to only serve 125ml measures. This has been corrected to show that they will still offer larger glasses.