UK restaurant chain caught selling undersized pints

The glasses used were 8.1ml too small to contain the full measure of beer ordered

A national restaurant chain was discovered serving customers ‘pints’ from glasses that were too small to contain the full 568ml of beer that they should have.

Trading Standards in Birmingham found that the business, which has not been named, was selling beer in glasses that were 8.1ml too shallow to contain a pint.

Birmingham City Council said it received a “significant complaint” about short measure beer at a large restaurant chain, and after an investigation it was established that the particular brand of glass had been made too small to contain a full pint.

A spokesperson for the council said: “The matter was referred to the relevant body to action and an audit was carried out.

“The supplier and retailer took corrective action to remove all the glassware from use and supply with immediate effect.”

The company has not been named because the case did not result in a prosecution.

Mile Leddy, a Labour councillor and member of the Licensing and Public Protection committee, told the BBC: "To come between a man and his pint of beer is one thing, but to come between a man and his short pint of beer is another.

"I commend the department for finding that a number of pint glasses had been made too small, and therefore short measures were being made at certain licensed premises and the way that they instituted, not just a recall from Birmingham bars, but nationally as well."

Draught beer and cider can only be sold in the UK in measures of a third, half, or two-thirds of a pint, or multiples of half a pint.