MPs battle to save community pubs
Mar 5 2009 by Jonathan Walker
The British pub is under threat with nearly 60 closing in Birmingham in recent years, MPs have warned.
They called on the Government to save pubs from closure during the recession - and warned the community pub was just as important as other essential services such as local post offices.
Landlords and pub managers claimed they were under pressure because of the smoking ban, unfair taxes and competition from supermarkets.
Figures revealing the scale of the crisis facing pubs and brewers have been published by the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group, a group of MPs who support the industry.
Members include Nuneaton MP Bill Olner (Lab). They showed that 32 pubs had closed in the Ladywood constituency since 2005, with 59 closures across Birmingham.
The MPs joined members of the Campaign for Real Ale and the British Beer and Pub Association to set out concerns to Ministers at a meeting in the House of Commons. According to CAMRA, community pubs in suburbs have suffered most – the increase in tax on alcohol went up by nine per cent in the March 2008 budget and by eight per cent - to offset a cut in VAT - in November.
Nigel Barker, CAMRA’s Birmingham spokesman, said: “The Government cut VAT but put up duty at the same time, which was a bit of a dirty trick. One of the biggest problems is the supermarkets selling beer cheaper than water. They do this as a loss leader to get people into the store but pubs cannot compete because we depend on sales of beer for our livelihood, so it cannot be a loss leader for us.”
The smoking ban had also hit custom in many pubs, he said.
Mr Barker runs The Wellington, a real ale pub in the city centre, which continues to be successful. He said: “You can’t buy real ale in a supermarket but the pubs which depend on sales of lager are suffering. They tend to be the same community pubs in suburbs which are also feeling the effects of the smoking ban.”
Conservative MP Michael Fabricant (Con Lichfield) has written to Ministers calling for cuts in taxes on beer and cider with moderate alcohol levels, paid for by higher taxes on drinks associated with binge drinking.
Treasury Minister Angela Eagle replied: “It has been suggested that additional duty should be charged on alcohol sold in supermarkets. However, due to EU legislation, the Government is not able to give a different tax treatment to the same product.”
* For a constituency-by-constituency report of pub closures in the UK click here>
"Across Birmingham and the Black Country pubs are closing at a rate of two or three a week, leaving dispiriting black holes at the street corners, like a missing tooth in a smiling face."
Pubs priceless to the community - read Post columnist Chris Upton here >
