The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) has made a final plea for the Chancellor to freeze beer duty.
It has written to Jeremy Hunt asking him to reconsider reinstating the freeze on duty as costs continue to rise for consumers resulting in a softening of beer sales, and the risk of subsequent business failures.
The BBPA highlights new data which shows the average cost for pubs and brewers were up 22% at the end of this summer, compared to 2021, and that’s before winter has set in.
It claims the average price of a pint rose is now 8% more than last year, and that more than 50 pubs are closing each month, compared to around 30 this time last year.
The letter also cautions that failing to introduce the beer duty freeze would take the tax to its highest ever historical record at a time of severe pressure for the industry but reinstating it would channel £360million back to pubs and breweries.
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association said: “We are caught in an extremely vicious circle, customers are understandably being cautious, but the cost of doing business is out of control and as a result this is set to be the toughest Christmas on memory for UK pubs and brewers.
“Many just managed to pull through the pandemic, but what we are facing now is crippling businesses at an unprecedented rate. We need the beer duty freeze reinstated to alleviate at least some of the cost pressure on our pubs and brewers and to avoid undermining the crucial Alcohol Duty reform measures to be implemented in 2023.”
Added Oliver Robinson, joint managing director of Robinsons Brewery, who operate 260 pubs across the North West and North Wales said: “For months there has been absolutely no let-up in the costs being piled onto our business. We are seeing unprecedented price increases across the business but especially on raw materials and if these were all passed on it would make the cost of a pint almost unaffordable in many pubs.”
