Head On Stout Ruled Not Short Measure

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30369, 19 February 1964, Page 17

Head On Stout Ruled Not Short Measure

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright)

BRISTOL, February 17. The whole case against Harry Searles, a publican, in the Bristol Court today turned on the amount of froth on top of a pint of stout. It was such a vital point that two Magistrates watched three pints of stout being drawn in a special portable bar set up in the court basement.

Searles had been accused of selling short measure, because when a Bristol Corporation weights and measures inspector ordered two pints of Guinness, Searles served them with a head. And that, said the inspector, Mr Leonard Woodland, meant that both pints were just over a fluid ounce short. “When a member of the public asks for a pint of stout or beer, or any- other, drink, what he expects to get and what he is entitled to get is a pint of the liquid—and he may in addition get some froth,” Mr Woodland said. Counsel for the defence argued that the head was an integral part of “a Guinness,” and he pointed ou.t that tire Court’s decision would affect 9000 licensees serving a quarter of a million drinks every day. Searles, who pleaded not guilty, said: “I should be very embarrassed if I served a glass of Guinness without

a head. It would be returned. A Guinness with a head is what the public expects.” The demonstration pints were drawn. The Magistrates inspected them—and left them untouched. Then they dismissed tlje case. The Bristol Corporation later announced that it would appeal.