Thanks to the unique way the BBC is funded by the TV licence paying public, it was able to spend almost £25k on booze in the past year.
Information obtained by the Daily Mail reveals that the Corporation spent £5,500 on sparking wine in 2018/19, which was more double the £2,631 it spent in 2017/18.
In 2018/19 the BBC also spent £12,535 on wine (up from £11,894 in 2017/18), £5,340 on beer (up from £5,334 in 2017/18) and £1,328 on spirits (up from £235 in 2017/18). The overall alcohol spend for 2018/19 was £24,700, which was an increase on the £20,184 spent in 2017/18.
Staff were banned from buying Champagne in 2012 after spending reached "crazy levels" of around £55,000 in 2007.
At the height of BBC spending on alcohol in 2007/2008, workers downed 11,446 bottles of wine, costing £48,000; 4,000 bottles of champagne, costing £56,000; 22,200 bottles of beer, costing £14,000; and 53 bottles of spirits, costing £600.
The total booze bill in 2007/08 was a whopping £118,600.
A BBC insider told the Mail: "In the past 10 years the alcohol culture at the BBC has effectively been killed off.
"Every single bottle has to be accounted for these days and when the champagne ban came into force in 2012 everyone knew it was the death knell for free booze.
"I'm glad to see spending on the rise this year though - maybe it's a sign of things to come, although I wouldn't hold my breath."
A BBC spokesman said: "The BBC has strict rules around the purchase of alcohol, meaning costs have been significantly cutting recent years."
It is pleasing to see that the BBC has drastically reduced its spending on alcohol in the last decade, but disappointing that spending appears to be on the rise again.
As the BBC will hopefully soon discover, the days of free lunches (and drinks) are drawing to an end!
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1 comment:
It might have been a good idea to post recent figures of taxi and private car hire along with these numbers, as one would think that if these are the figures for spending at events, then it's reasonable to suggest that those people didn't drive themselves home and therefore, had to get a lift.
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