I really like this idea from a nightclub at a hotel in Corby, Northamptonshire. Seems like the trade at The Raven isn't what it used to be:

Customers, however, concerned about spending during the recession, are staying at home and the pub is now on the brink of closure. Just a handful of people are having a drink or a bite to eat when Sky News visited the pub. So, to try to lure people back in, owner Bip Wetherell has relaxed the rules for his adjoining nightclub in exchange for an entry fee of £5. "I thought I'd use the low prices as a marketing tool and do BYOB (Bring your own Booze)," Mr Wetherell said.

We have had a BYOW law here in Ontario for a couple of years now but not many restaurants have signed up for it. I just don't go out dining enough and haven't got the interest I once had in plonks of rare distinction such that I would concern myself with ensuring I had my own choice in wines. But if I could head out to a pub with my own sack of ales, that would be another matter entirely. I have a few favorite pubs around town with less than stellar taps that I would love to go to for a meal and more accompanied by pals from my beer travels. What would I pay for this right? Easily twenty bucks for the right to bring the drinks for a meal for two. Be more than worth it to bridge the gap between my beer stash and a great night out.

The Raven has only started running this so we'll have to see how far the idea goes. Now that I think of it, I had my own private version when I had a student back in my early 90s ESL teaching days in Poland who tended a bar and told me just to bring in a bottle and the drinks would be on the house after that. But I don't think that was actually official policy.