Unscrupulous publicans are using a number of underhand ploys to encourage people to drink more, according to charity Alcohol Concern.
Landlords often played loud music in order to stop people talking, making them drink more quickly and spend more money, the charity said.
They also put salty snacks at the bar, forced people to stand, limited the number of ledges and flat surfaces so that customers had to hold their drinks, and turned up the radiators to help to boost sales, it suggested.
Alcohol Concern warned that faster drinking, whether because of loud music, “vertical drinking” or other ploys, could be contributing to the UK’s binge-drinking culture.
But the charity’s allegations were dismissed by the British Beer and Pub Association.
“Landlords play music not because they think it is a way of encouraging people to drink but because it is what their customers want to hear,” a spokeswoman said.
People chose where to drink for a range of different reasons, and publicans were simply trying to make their night a “sociable event”, she added.
Alcohol Concern's comments were prompted by a survey of London pubs on a Saturday night by the Evening Standard newspaper.
It found that three out of four were playing recorded music at levels louder than European safety standards.
In two pubs the music was almost as loud as the noise you would hear if you were standing beside a pneumatic drill, the paper reported.
by Nic Paton