There are fears however that the new plastic glasses will be made compulsory with little regard for the effect it would have on the drinker’s experience. The British Beer and Pub Association are against any move which would see plastic glasses compulsory.

Expressing concern over possible legislation, Neil Williams of the B.B.P.A said ;

“For the drinker, the pint glass feels better, it has a nice weight and the drink coats the glass nicely. That’s why people go out for a drink, to have a nice experience. I would ask, is it necessary to replace the much-loved pint glass for safety reasons in the vast majority of pubs where there is no problem?”

“Pubs shouldn’t be put under pressure to stop using glasses if they are safe places to drink. Why on earth ask them to do that? They shouldn’t be corralled into using plastic glasses. Anything that would move us towards a plastic product would not be welcomed.”

The man in charge of coming up with a new design is Nick Verebelyi. He explained to the BBC that at the moment there are two schools of thought ;

“One is to coat the glass with a substance that will make sure the glass doesn’t shatter into pieces when it is broken – that could be a plastic material for example. But it would have to feel like an existing pint glass to the consumer.”
“We could do something more radical, by looking at the whole shape and substance of the pint – we could come up with something that is completely different to glass. Remember that years ago people used to drink out of pewter tankards. It could be quite a significant paradigm shift.”

Time will tell with both the design options and feasibility of such changes, but with the recession still biting down hard on the entertainment industry, any compulsory changes incurring additional costs are destined to be hugely unpopular.