Pub chef set to defy beef-on-the-bone ban

A Lancashire pub owner will test the law governing the beef-on-the-bone ban tomorrow (23 April) by giving away meals but charging three times the usual price for a bottle of wine.

Geoffrey Beetlestone, owner of the Red Rock pub in Padiham, plans to celebrate St George's Day by serving a three-course meal of lamb broth followed by beef on the bone and apple crumble for dessert at no charge. But the deal means customers will be charged £23.95 each for an obligatory bottle of wine that normally costs £8.50.

Beetlestone said this will be no different from the much-publicised case of the Celtic Manor House Golf and Country Club in Newport, Gwent, which avoided prosecution last month having served beef on the bone to Prince Charles.

Newport County Council said it did not prosecute because the hotel did not sell the beef (Caterer 18 March, page 5).

"I want to give a kick-start to lifting the ban. It's about time the public were able to make their own minds up," said Beetlestone.

Hotelier Jim Sutherland, the first caterer to be taken to court for selling beef on the bone, gave Beetlestone his full support but believed he would be breaking the law. He said the Prince Charles case was "fudged" because of embarrassment over publicity.

"Butchers are selling beef on the bone all the time," he said. "I think the Government will try to quietly lift the ban."

by Christina Golding