Small businesses in the pub sector will be feeling even more pressure today as figures released from the British Beer and Pub Association have shown that two million fewer pints of beer are being sold everyday in the pubs in the country, compared to figures recorded a year ago.

The massive drop in sales, revealed in the most recent UK Quarterly Beer Barometer, is being blamed on the 18 per cent hike in the duty being placed on beer through the previous year and the BBPA are now calling on the government to cut back on the tax in this year’s budget.

Sales of beer feel by 8.3 per cent in the final quarter of 2008 in pubs, shops and restaurants compared to the final quarter of 2007.  These figures mean that sales of beer have dropped from 26.7 million pints sold a day to 24.5 million.

The BBPA’s chief executive, Rob Hayward, claimed that,  “These figures highlight the extreme economic pressures hitting Britain’s beer and pub sector. Beer sales are sinking and many pubs are struggling to survive.  Pub closures have escalated to nearly six a day. Unfortunately, Government tax policy is only making a difficult situation worse.  It’s time for the Government to a great British industry.”

Even the large brewers are facing a difficult year ahead, and had been through a tough previous year, as Adnams have declared that their profits for 2008 would be “substantially” weaker than the profits earned through 2007.  Adnams have claimed that sales of their beer dropper by 6 per cent in 2008 compared to 2007.

Hayward continued, “Due to the Government’s tax escalator and VAT policy, we are facing two further tax increases this year alone.  We are not asking for a tax handout, like other sectors. We just don’t want our tax burden to be made worse.”

The BBPA were claiming that they were expecting the tax on a pint of beer by the 2012 Budget to reach a staggering 40 per cent increase from February of 2008.  British pubs were already trying to fight back after the smoking ban hit pubs around the country hard, and many pubs that didn’t serve food were hardly given a chance.  Now these new figures showing how fewer pints are being sold could devastate the sector.

39 pubs are closing in Britain every week, a record high which is up from the previous 36 closures a week which was felt in the first half of 2008.  Smaller pubs are also feeling the pressure against bigger chains of pubs, such as Wetherspoons who have recently brought in lower prices to keep the beer flowing, as well as extremely low prices on meals, in an attempt to bring in new customers.

The Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns, the two largest pub operators in the country, have recently seen their shares collapse under the weight of the recession and have left investors with little hope for handling their extreme borrowing.

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