Southsea pub Wine Vaults brings in battery system that allows punters to charge their phones

A SOUTHSEA pub has hatched a plan that could bring a welcome end to the woes of punters asking to charge their dying mobile phones over the bar.
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As of this month, drinkers at the Wine Vaults, in Albert Road, can now use their devices to scan a QR code that will grant them use of a portable charger as they sup on their tipple.

It comes after the venue got in an eight-charger station from a London start-up, ChargedUp, which punters can access for £1 per hour.

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A spokeswoman for the Wine Vaults said: ‘We got it in because we get people asking if they can charge their phone behind the bar – for safety reasons that’s not possible in case anything happens to it.

The Wine Vaults pub in Albert Road, Southsea, has brought in a new station that allows punters to pay 50p per 30 minutes to charge up their devices. These can even be taken to other local pubs and dropped off, including the Deco in Elm Grove. Picture: Wine VaultsThe Wine Vaults pub in Albert Road, Southsea, has brought in a new station that allows punters to pay 50p per 30 minutes to charge up their devices. These can even be taken to other local pubs and dropped off, including the Deco in Elm Grove. Picture: Wine Vaults
The Wine Vaults pub in Albert Road, Southsea, has brought in a new station that allows punters to pay 50p per 30 minutes to charge up their devices. These can even be taken to other local pubs and dropped off, including the Deco in Elm Grove. Picture: Wine Vaults
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‘This is absolutely perfect for solving that problem and it’s been pretty popular since we brought it in.

‘Because of the way it works, you can also take the charger with you and there are other pubs on Albert Road, as well as the Deco, in Elm Grove, that have a station so you can drop batteries off there.’

Each battery in the station has its own ID chip that can be linked to the user who unlocked it, to help prevent theft.

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This gives off a signal highlighting where the battery was picked up from and where it has been taken.

Users who fail to return one of the chargers will be charged £3 a day up to £30, until they have effectively bought the charger as if it was new.

This is possible because the chargers have to be unlocked using the ChargedUp app, which asks for the user’s payment details.

The batteries work with both Apple and Android devices.

The ChargedUp station in the Wine Vaults is located opposite the main bar.

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