A London Publican's Profits

Manawatu Herald, 25 August 1898, Page 3

A London Publican's Profits

At the London Sheriff's Court the case of Bouts v. the Great Central Railway Company, Limited, came on for hearing. This was a claim on the part of Mr Frank Bouts, proprietor of the Nightingale Hotel, Alpha Road, St. John's Wood, (Eng.,) for the sum of £9000 as compensation for the compulsory acquirement by the Great Central Railway company of hisf licensed premises for the purpo9e o their terminus at St. John's Wood in connection with their new line to London. Mr Frank Bouts, the claimant, said that he gave £6500 for the lease of the Nightingale, and the total amount he paid on the deal was £7457. His business was a most lucrative one, and the sale of champagne was considerable. In the neighbourhood of North Bank, a fashionable quarter, more champagne was drunk than anything, and the majority of his customers were young ladies. The most profitable part of his business was in connection with the sale of mineral waters. Port wine he purchased as low as 3s per gallon, and he retailed it at £1 is per gallon ; champagne he bought at 30s and 32s per dozen, and sold it at 7s and 8s per bottle, or between 300 and 400 per cent profit. For large sodas he paid is a dozen, and across the counter they were sold at 4d each, or 300 per cent profit. Half-bottles were bought at gd per dozen, and sold at 2s. British cigars he bought at 8s and gs per 100, and retailed them at 2d and 3d each. Mexican and foreign cigars he purcnased at «gs per 100, and sold them at 3d, and where he could get it, 4d. His profit on cheap wines was 200 and 300 per cent. Brandy he bought at 8s in bond, and "after breaking it down " he retailed it at 31s. On whisky and gin the profit was 100 and 50 per cent respectively. On pale ales there was a profit of 150 per cent, and on ordinary beers 33 per cent. Where the beer was sold in glasses the profit was much greater. The jury gave a verdict for £4500.

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