Man charged £55,000 for ‘most expensive beer in history’ at Manchester hotel

A man believes he drank “the most expensive beer in history” after being charged £55,000 for a single ale.

Australian cricket journalist Peter Lalor paid more than he bargained for when he ordered a bottle of Deuchars IPA at a Malmaison hotel in Manchester.

The drink was supposed to cost £5.50 but when a member of staff came to take the payment from Mr Lalor, something went wrong.

In a series of posts on Twitter, the journalist wrote: “I didn’t have my reading glasses when she presented me with a bill for the beer and when she had some problems with the machine I didn’t think much of it, but it was eventually resolved, I said I didn’t want a receipt and she went to leave.

“Something, however, made me ask ‘how much did I just pay for that beer?’

“She checked, covered her mouth, started to giggle and refused to tell me, saying only there had been a mistake and she would fix it.

“She kept giggling, I told her it needed to be fixed and fixed right now.

“She ran to get her manager who took the situation far more seriously and went about attempting to arrange a refund. She told me somebody would be in contact.”

Mr Lalor, who had been staying at the hotel ahead of the fourth Ashes Test, said he was not contacted by the business and did not realise how much he had been charged until he received a call from home.

He was told that $99,983.64 (£55,300) had been taken from his account, along with a transaction fee of $2,499.59 (£1,380).

The smaller fee has since been refunded but Mr Lalor said he will have to wait nine working days to be paid back the rest of the money.

The writer said it was “baffling” the transaction had gone through “unquestioned” and that it had left a “massive hole” in his finances.

Shortly after tweeting about the incident, Mr Lalor said the hotel had been in contact and were “being very helpful now”.

A spokesperson for the hotel said: “We are currently carrying out an investigation into what took place.

“We have been in contact with Peter to apologise and ensure this has been resolved as quickly as possible.”

Mr Lalor had high praise for the beer itself – but added: “If you are thinking that no beer is worth the best part of 100,000 dollars, then I am inclined to agree with you.”

The current most expensive pint in the UK is the Speedway Stout sold by The Craft Beer Co, which is priced at £22.50.

(c) Sky News 2019: Man charged £55,000 for ‘most expensive beer in history’ at Manchester hotel