Beer tax takes its toll in 57-million-pint beer sales plunge
By: JimOldfield
April 29th, 2012
Chancellor George Osborne has been blamed for a frightening 57 MILLION pint dip in pub sales over the past quarter, after he refused to freeze the “beer escalator” tax.
The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) slammed Mr Osborne’s policies, after the Pub association’s quarterly Beer Barometer reported a six per cent drop over the same quarter of 2011.
BBPA members are responsible for 96 per cent of the beer brewed in the UK and own half of Britain’s 51,000 pubs – and the association is adamant that the latest sales drop is more evidence of the cumulative effect of a 42 per cent increase in beer tax in the past four years.
BBPA chief executive Brigid Simmonds said: “These figures show the chancellor was totally wrong to raise beer tax again in his budget, as this discredited policy continued to hit pubs hard.
“This key British industry could be an engine of growth for the economy, but poor tax policy is damaging our potential.”
Research done by the BBPA suggests the decision not to freeze the tax will cost around 5,000 jobs in the industry over the next two years.
An e-petition demanding an end to the escalator has to date attracted more than 28,000 signatures.
And Ms Simmonds added: “The public are getting behind calls for a change in policy, and signing the e-petition in their thousands. A million jobs depend on the beer industry’s success. I hope people will continue to respond positively and back a tax freeze – and I hope the Government will listen.”
Overall beer sales fell by 1.4 per cent in the quarter compared to last year.
On the other hand, off trade sales were up by nearly five per cent.
