90,000 pints lost down the drains
ALMOST 90,000 pints of beer were poured into West Lancashire sewers as pubs closed during the coronavirus lockdown.
On March 23, pubs, clubs, bars and restaurants were forced to close their doors under the nationwide lockdown rules to curb the spread of Covid-19 throughout the country.
Venues were then allowed to reopen from July 4 as part of the Government’s plan to get the country’s economy regrowing after months of stagnation.
But while the businesses were closed for those initial 15 weeks, lots of unsold barrels of beer had, quite simply, gone bad having past their sell by date.
For pubs and similar venues to get rid of any booze that is no longer fit for sale, they must apply to their local water company before pouring the beer into sewers. It is a criminal offence to do so without permission.
In Lancashire and across the North West, that authority is United Utilities.
In figures obtained from under Environmental Information Regulations, the Advertiser can exclusively reveal that United Utilities approved Lancashire venues to dispose of a total of around 87,000 pints from lockdown being announced on March 23 up to and including July 31.
Ormskirk saw the most beer thrown away, with 34,456 pints thrown down the drain. Skelmersdale was second on the list with 24,144 pints and Wrightington
was third with 12,336.
A spokesperson from United Utilities said: “I would like to advise that the information is based on the volumes applied for regarding the disposal of beer and the towns are based on the postcodes provided by the applicants.”