Pub industry reacts to yet another 'miserable' Budget

24th March 2010, 2:11pm

The general consensus across the pub industry is that today's 2% duty increase on beer, wines and spirits is another nail in the coffin of the great British pub. We look at the views:

Brigid Simmonds, British Beer & Pub Association chief executive:
"This latest beer tax hike piles on the misery for Britain's hard-pressed pubs and beer lovers. It is also a snub to voters, who by a majority of two to one wanted the Chancellor to scrap the beer tax escalator.

"Since 2008, beer tax has increased by an eye-watering 26% – a £761 million tax rise - and we have seen the loss of 4,000 pubs and over 40,000 jobs up and down the country. Beer sales are down £650m in the last year alone."

"The Chancellor's claims that this is a Budget for investment and growth are hollow, considering he's just hit the beer and pub sector with a £161 million tax rise. The extension of the tax escalator for an extra two years also means more pain. Recently, there had been some signs of improvement in our industry but this recovery will be threatened by Mr Darling's tax rise, which is putting hundreds more pubs and thousands more jobs at risk."

Mike Benner, CAMRA chief executive:
"Today's budget is a charter for the large supermarkets who irresponsibly promote alcohol as a loss leader at the expense of our nation's community pubs, real ale and responsible pub goers. CAMRA is totally at a loss in understanding how a Government that recognises the community value of pubs can impose such consistently draconian beer duty increases. 

"Today's duty increase has stamped down on the survival hopes of community pubs across the UK. This is a further tax raid on responsible beer drinkers and community pubs. It is however a tax raid that will yield little extra money for the Government as any extra beer duty will be outweighed by job losses, pub closures and reduced business taxes. 

"With nearly 6 pubs a day already closing, CAMRA fears these latest rises will mark the end for many more valued community pubs, with beer prices set to rise in pubs by up to 20p a pint. 

"Instead of freezing beer duty and helping to protect the nation's well-run community pubs, the Chancellor's last act before the General Election is to impose another duty hike that will lead to further wholesale pub closures. Beer duty has soared by an unprecedented 25% in the last 2 years." 

SIBA chairman Keith Bott:
"Today's announcement is another example of the apparent disconnect between what this Government says about encouraging local, sustainable economies and what it does, which is having a disastrous effect on the pubs that local brewers need to thrive if they are to thrive themselves. The sooner it realises the link between the two and starts making policies that support local pubs and local brewers, rather than damaging them, the better.

"The continuous percentage hikes in duties across the board fail to address the imperative to move consumers away from stronger alcohols with greater potential to cause harm, towards cask ale. Cask beer, with its relatively low ABV, is always consumed in the controlled, socially responsible environment of the pub, making it a much less damaging form of alcohol than cheap supermarket-bought spirits."

WSTA Chief Executive Jeremy Beadles:
"Successive punitive tax rises on alcohol are taking their toll on household budgets and mean further job losses in the drinks industry are on the cards this year. The last year alone has seen business closures and 30,000 job losses and today's Budget means higher prices for consumers and more misery in a sector that ought to be part of Britain's economic recovery."

Related Articles:

• 04 Aug 2010 - CAMRA launches Britain's fastest and longest trail using Twitter
• 25 Jun 2010 - Highland brewery's Orkney Blast named CAMRA's Champion Beer of Scotland
• 15 Jun 2010 - VAT rise in Budget could hit beer and pubs hard, say experts
• 19 Apr 2010 - General election candidates say pubs are crucial to communities

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