Greg Mulholland pushes for wine to be served in 125ml glasses

When I worked at my first bar job at The Ridley Arms in Stannington, Northumberland when I was eighteen - thirty years ago - the wine served was dispensed via optic from a chiller (Corrida it was). The wine was disgusting and served in tiny measure.

No one knew what wine was, hardly anyone drank wine then. Wine was served in 100ml and 125ml glasses because it was in some way regarded as a foreign, rather exotic thing - like vermouths - and few people knew what to do with it. For at least three decades then I have regarded a 125ml serving of wine in any bar as a likely sign that the operators haven't a clue about what they are doing. It usually signifies a very limited list of exceptionally bad wines, a dreadful cook from frozen food menu, awful service and deep fried scampi and chips in a basket with sachets of foul plastic tartare sauce being the highlight of the specials board.

I can't help but feel that in thirty years we've moved on a bit and believe that adults are finally familiar with what they are drinking when it comes to wine. 175ml is a perfectly acceptable amount as a unit measurement for any responsible person to enjoy. This doesn't preclude that some people might like to order a smaller glass of wine as a matter of course but I can't imagine who they are. The idea of forcing bars up and down the UK to stock 125ml glasses in some strange belief that people binge drink without realising it is a bit weird don't you think?

I hope some of this nonesense gets into the World and European press so they can have a good giggle at the kind of things this nation gets preoccupied by.

The Mother of Parliaments, the seat of international Democracy, an Empire that spanned the World wasn't built on sipping a thimbleful of hock mate.