Landlord serving Britain's cheapest pints has message for government
Concerns for the future of UK pubs has been raised as the Autumn Budget is released
The landlord of a pub serving the cheapest pints in Britain has issued a plea to the UK government ahead of the Budget announcement today.
Anyone who's a regular at their local boozer will no doubt have noticed that the price of their preferred tipple has skyrocketed in the past couple of years, thanks to a combination of inflation of alcohol duty rates.
And there's more bad news on the horizon, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves' upcoming Autumn Budget could see an increase of 4.5 percent for the alcohol duty.
What is alcohol duty?
Alcohol duty is a tax on, you guessed it, alcoholic drinks.
Depending on the alcohol by volume (ABV) percentage in each drink, a tax is applied, with all drinks containing over 1.2 percent pure alcohol included.
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Should such changes be implemented then a 70cl bottle of gin (37.5 percent ABV) would increase by 47p and scotch (40 percent ABV) by 50p.
Meanwhile, a 13.5 percent bottle of wine would go up by 16p while a four-pack of beers would see a 7p increase.
Alcohol duty was previously raised in last year’s Budget, with an exemption for draught beer, which saw a 1p reduction.
The proposed changes haven't been embraced warmly by pub landlords, with the man behind Britain's cheapest lager urging the Chancellor to give British pubs a break.
"All I can say to Rachel Reeves is, give us a break," Nick Pritchard - owner of Tommy Cutler’s Bar in Blackpool, where pints of lager cost as little as £1.75 - said in an interview with The Sun.
He went on to warn that pubs are a 'dying trade' in the UK and predicted a sharp decline for the iconic institutions unless more is done to support them.
"Pubs are on their a**e. We’re a dying trade and pubs are closing down across the country," he continued.
"If the government doesn’t do something in the next five to ten years there won’t be any pubs left."
"The pub industry as a whole is getting hammered, it honestly feels like the government is trying to get rid of us, they’re punishing us at every turn."
Pritchard's comments echo concerns aired by Wetherpoons boss Tim Martin, who recently told Metro: "Pubs and the hospitality industry bore the brunt of the big tax increases in National Insurance Contributions (NICs) only a few months ago."
The concerns follow alarming data from The Campaign for Real Ale, which revealed that 901 pubs have closed in the UK over the past year.
Brenna Cooper