UK pub goers drink 88m fewer pints as beer sales drop - Telegraph

"As has occurred after every World Cup, the beer market hit a bump in the road, which was not helped by a wet summer," said Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the BBPA. "But these exceptional factors are underlaid by lingering economic and consumer uncertainty."

The BBPA said consumers are increasingly worried about their disposable income, with spending cuts and tax rises on the way.

The industry body said beer and pubs "need a break" and called on the Government to "lighten the regulatory and tax load which currently burdens the sector and is a brake on growth."

The pub and brewing industries have been hit by the persistent fall in beer sales as more people drink at home, the smoking ban and pub closures, which reached 2,300 last year.

The last Government increased alcohol duties by 2pc above inflation, a measure which has not been reversed, and the industry expects to suffer when VAT goes up from 17.5pc to 20pc in January.

The BBPA says beer pays an unfairly high level of tax, at around 42p per unit of alcohol compared with 33p for cider and 37p for vodka. Beer sales generate about £7bn in tax revenues.

However Diageo, the world's biggest spirits maker, has suggested freezing duty on spirits and bringing beer, cider and wine into line by raising the duty they pay, so that one unit of alcohol is taxed the same.

The Government recently finished the consultation period on two reviews of the alcohol industry, one on licensing laws and one on taxation.

via telegraph.co.uk

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