Published: 04 December 2014
Q: My wife and I run a small bar in the city dedicated to wine enthusiasts, providing a large selection of wines on the menu. We have conventionally offered customers certain wines by the glass in 175ml and 250ml measures with others only being available by the bottle. However, we recently had a visit from the local Trading Standards Officer who informed us that we have to offer our still wine in 125ml measures and every single wine must be offered in this quantity. Is this correct?
A: All premises licences contain a mandatory condition requiring that still wine in a glass must be available in 125ml measures. Furthermore, due to recent changes to the mandatory conditions, you are now required to display the smaller measures on the premises on your menus, price lists or on other printed material, for example, on a blackboard behind the bar. Additionally, if a customer does not specify the quantity of alcohol they want, you must make them aware that the relevant smaller measure is available. If you offer still wine by the glass then you must make 125ml measures available and be satisfied that your customers are aware of that availability. Conversely, if there are some wines you only sell by the bottle then you are not required to offer these in 125ml (or indeed any other) quantities. As long as each still wine you offer by the glass is also available in the 125ml quantity then you will be complying with the law.
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