A decade of decline in UK beer sales has come to an end, with a 1.3% rise in UK beer sales in 2014, the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has announced today.
The rise followed nine consecutive years of decline, which saw beer sales slide by 24 per cent — 6.7 million fewer pints sold per day. The BBPA says huge tax rises were the major culprit, with a devastating beer duty hike of 42% from 2008 to 2013, under the beer tax ‘escalator’ policy. This sent the duty (plus the VAT on the duty) from 42p to 65p on a typical pint. The period saw 7,000 pubs close, with 58,000 jobs lost.
With taxes still much higher than they were a decade ago, the BBPA is leading calls for a much-needed hat-trick of beer duty cuts in the Budget on March 18.
Beer sales in pubs have begun to stabilise, showing a small decline of 0.8% in 2014, but this was the smallest decline in sales since 1996. Off-trade sales grew by 3.5%, matching the growth of last year and taking off-licence and supermarket sales above on-trade sales for the first time on record.
BBPA chief executive, Brigid Simmonds, said: “British beer is back in growth — and we want to keep it that way. But with 70% of pub drink sales being beer, the picture for our much loved pubs is still fragile.
“That is why another duty cut from the Chancellor is vital. It will build on the success of two very popular tax cuts in the past two years, and boost jobs in an industry that employs 900,000 people, almost half of whom are 16- to 24-year-olds. That has got to be good news.”
