House of Lords raises its banquet corkage costs
The House of Lords will be increasing its corkage fee for those who wish to bring their own bottles to events from next week onwards.
From 1 April, those who choose to bring a bottle of still wine to an event at the House of Lords will have to pay £15 – a £3 increase on the current £12 rate. For sparkling wine, the corkage price for a 75cl bottle will rise from £15 to £18.
“The reason for the increase is that we haven’t increased the corkage cost in more than eight years,” Emma Finch, head of sales and events at the House of Lords, told the drinks business.
“The average corkage fee in London has seen an increase recently, typically ranging from £12 to £15 per bottle of still wine. However, some high-end establishments charge significantly more, sometimes exceeding £100 a bottle,” Finch added.
As for why the House of Lords, like many restaurants, charges a higher price for guests bringing bottles of fizz, Finch explained that there were three key reasons.
The first two concern the need for specific glassware and the different handling requirements compared to the still stuff.
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“Sparkling wine requires specialised glassware like flutes or coupes, which are often more fragile and costly to maintain,” Finch shared. “Opening sparkling wine can also be trickier due to the pressure in the bottle. Staff need to be trained in safely opening bottles and serving sparkling wine without losing carbonation.”
The final and perhaps most crucial reason concerns what Finch dubbed “revenue protection”: “Many restaurants rely heavily on wine sales for profitability. Sparkling wines often have higher markups than still wines, so a higher corkage fee helps offset the loss of those potential sales.”
New list
1 April also marks the introduction of the House of Lords’ spring and summer wine list, which will be in place until 14 September.
The most inexpensive bottle on the list is actually a non-alcoholic sparkling rosé from Artis at £21.95 a bottle – the cheapest conventional wine is the 2022 Julia Florista Vinho Tinto from Portugal at £34.
On the other end of the spectrum, a bottle of 2020 Domaine Barville Châteauneuf-du-Pape takes the top spot at £80, approximately double its retail price.
Meanwhile, a drop of House of Lords Port, Quinta das Carvalhas LBV 2019, won’t set one back much, at just £5.95 for a 5cl measure, or £50 for a decanter.
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