A small pub is fighting back against the big boys by offering a pint of beer for less than a pound.

The move by the independently owned Waterfront Quay in Gosport High Street comes after pub giant JD Wetherspoon started a price war by launching its own 99p pint.

Some regulars at the Waterfront Quay took their business to Wetherspoon-owned pub The Star, a couple of hundred yards away, when the chain began offering Greene King IPA for 99p. Now the smaller pub is offering a pint of Worthington Creamflow for 99p in a bid to lure customers back in.

The move means the pub will make a loss on every pint of the cheap bitter sold, but managers told The News it was the only way they could bring back their customers.

Donna Bradshaw, assistant manager at the pub, said: 'Our trade just went completely down when Wetherspoon started doing the 99p pints. Our regulars who used to come in each morning just went up the road instead, so we had to cut the prices so we could get some trade.

'We are losing money on every pint that we sell, but it was important to get our regulars back and it means other people might come in and have a coffee or something as well. We are only just clinging on by our fingertips at moment because of the Wetherspoon pub and we needed our customers back.'

The Waterfront Quay pub is offering the cut-price booze from 10am to 12.30pm every day, except Sunday, when it is available from midday to 2.30pm. At all other times Worthington is available at £1.69 a pint.

Chairman of Gosport's Pubwatch scheme, Arthur Caraccio, said: 'We've not had any complaints about this and providing you are sticking to the law and refusing to serve someone who has had too much to drink, then it should cause any problems.'

Neil Williams, British Beer and Pub Association spokesman, said that pubs were being forced to slash prices due to a drop in sales. 'Trading conditions are among the toughest that we've ever experienced,' he said. 'Sales are at their lowest since the Great Depression of the 1930s and pubs are having to cut prices to attract customers.'

He said increased duty on alcohol, the credit crunch and supermarkets selling cheap booze were behind declining sales.

Source: The News