Birmingham pub launch of campaign to cut beer tax
Mar 16 2009 by Tom Scotney, Birmingham Post
Publicans and drinkers in the West Midlands are signing up to an “axe the beer tax” campaign to save pubs in the region.
Pub companies and landlords have found times become increasingly difficult in recent weeks due to a combination of falling consumer demand, increased competition from supermarkets and the burden of tax on the price of a pint.
A third of a price of a British pint now goes in tax. Beer sales in pubs are already at their lowest levels in nearly 40 years and pub closures have accelerated to a rate of almost six a day.
Last year, the national campaign Axe the Beer Tax – Save the Pub, was launched late last year following the decision by the Government to impose further duty rises on beer and pubs in its Pre-Budget Report.
And supporters held a meeting at the Old Joint Stock in central Birmingham last Friday to talk about what to do to save the industry.
The campaign said a big duty rise expected in this year’s Budget and increases planned for the next four years mean that by 2012 7,500 more pubs would close and more than 40,000 jobs would be likely to be lost.
Campaigners have published the manifesto Last Orders – a five-point plan to save the British pub.
Stephen Gould, chairman of the British Beer and Pub Association Midlands, said: “Pubs play a vital role in communities in this region and are an essential part of promoting a more responsible drinking culture. Yet recent changes can only force more and more people out of pubs and more and more pubs out of business.
“This campaign is providing a voice to those who want to save the great British pub – and we are urging everyone to sign up on the campaign’s website to register their support.”
The demands for a fair playing field for publicans came as JD Wetherspoon announced its profits had risen in a market that has been crippling landlords and other pub companies.
The firm, which has 44 establishments in the West Midlands and has sites earmarked for two more in Redditch and Perry Barr, saw pre-tax profit rise two per cent before exceptional items to £30.8 million, on a revenue of £468 million.
The group has used aggressive price cuts – including dropping the price of some pints to as low as 99p – to stave off the chaos in the pub industry caused by the drop in consumer demand, price competition from supermarkets and the smoking ban.
And it has ambitious expansion plans that could see it open more and more branches even as the recession continues to bite.
Finance director Keith Down said the success of Wetherspoons was about more than just low prices, and added the company would be taking advantage of the number of disused pubs coming onto the market at lower prices because of the trouble in the industry.
He said: “We have got really well-maintained pubs, we try to get as many people as we can to give us atmosphere and we offer good value. All of those things are as important in the good times as in the bad times.
“I think we are pretty competitive all the time on price.”
