Britain’s biggest breweries and pub businesses are calling for beer duty to be cut and business rates reformed.
More than 80 directors of the UK’s leading beer and pub companies have signed a letter written by British Beer and Pub Association chief executive Emma McClarkin, saying their industry “needs fair recognition of its unique value”.
Among the signatories are the chairmen of breweries Adnams and Harvey’s and the chief executives of Fuller’s, Punch Pubs, JD Wetherspoon and Stonegate Group.
Call for change: More than 80 directors of the UK’s leading brewers and pub companies have signed a letter saying their industry “needs fair recognition of its unique value”
The letter is addressed to the three main leaders of the UK’s political parties and is timed to coincide with the start of the European Football Championship.
He noted that English and Scottish football fans will spend 54p on service for every pint they buy during the tournament, while those in Spain and Germany will pay less than 5p.
“Our sector is among the highest taxed sectors of the economy,” said McClarkin, citing BBPA research which claims £1 of every £3 spent in pubs goes to HM Treasury.
“The upcoming European Championship highlights the extent to which beer is still subject to excessive taxation,” he added.
Combined with high energy bills and other costs, the letter said publicans will make just 12p profit on an average £4.80 pint in the UK.
He also implored the government to implement “urgent radical reform” to the business rates system because pubs pay up to four times the level of equivalent businesses.
McClarkin said the 75 per cent rate reduction for hospitality venues in England was “a lifeline without which many more pubs would close”.
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The scheme is due to run until April 2025, and was extended by Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt in last year’s autumn statement.
Recent data from accountancy firm Price Bailey showed 769 pub businesses went into insolvency in 2023, the highest number in a decade and around 250 more than the previous year.
Pubs, bars and restaurants have fallen on hard times over the past four years due to Covid-related restrictions which forced them to temporarily close their doors or limit opening hours and capacity levels.
When pandemic restrictions ended, its trade was hit hard by soaring food, gas and electricity bills, cost-of-living pressures on consumers and industrial actions by railway workers.
McClarkin said the pub industry needed “separate change… to secure its future and promote and celebrate such an intrinsic part of British life which brings combined economic, social and cultural value to almost every community in the country”.
“The beer and pub sector is special, but it doesn’t need special favours: it needs fair recognition of its unique value.”
Share or comment on this article: Pub-goers spend 54p per pint in Britain, while in Spain and Germany, less than 5p.
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