Drink sales (2021)
Request
Please could you provide me with a full list of all alcoholic drinks purchased in Parliament's bars during April, May and June 2021?
If possible, please could you also provide the type of drink purchased and the cost of each alongside a total sales figure for each month?
Response
Please note that, whist you have asked about “parliamentary bars”, our response only deals with alcoholic drink sales in venues for which the House of Commons is responsible. Some drinks may be sold in venues which are the responsibility of the House of Lords, which is a separate public authority for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act. Therefore you may wish to consider forwarding your request to the House of Lords.
Some information is held by the House of Commons in relation to your request.
There were no sales in bars between 1 April 2021 and 16 May 2021, because those venues were closed in line with government guidelines.
Please note that during this period alcohol was only available to those who were working on the estate and limited to Members, up to 3 guests per Member and the Press. Usually, the on-site catering venues, including our bars, are open to around 15,000 other passholders (MPs, MPs’ staff, House staff, civil servants, contractors, Peers', member of the Press Gallery, etc.), as well as a large number of non-pass holding visitors to Parliament.
It may also help you to know that the House of Commons routinely publishes sales of drinks and pre-packaged items on our web pages. This is to reduce the burden on the tax payer to respond to common requests for information about these items. This publication, along with other frequently requested information, can be found on our Transparency pages