The Campaign for Pubs has slammed the chancellor for failing to deliver the support that pubs and small brewers need to get through the cost-of-living crisis.
It said Jeremy Hunt ignored calls from publicans and through the wider hospitality sector for an urgently-needed VAT cut to mitigate the cost-of-living crisis. Instead, he delivered a multi-million-pound tax break to global brewers and giant pubcos.
The current crisis has led to an escalation of pub closures. Figures from the Altus Group show that 383 pubs — more than two a day — permanently closed in the first six months of this year. That almost matches the total for the whole last year, when 386 were permanently lost.
Direct support is desperately needed in the form of a VAT cut, says the Campaign for Pubs. Cuts to alcohol duty have minimal impact on pubs, but funnel huge tax cuts directly into the pockets of global brewers, giant pubcos, and multinational drinks producers.
At the same time as pub closures have escalated, small breweries have been closing at a rate never seen before. Some 90 breweries have closed their doors over the last year. But the Chancellor announced nothing to support small breweries, and an overall duty freeze disproportionately benefits the biggest breweries.
“My heart goes out to all my fellow publicans who, like me, would have been desperately hoping for some positive news for our amazing, world famous pubs in the chancellor’s Autumn Statement,” said Campaign for Pubs vice-chair Dawn Hopkins.
“Instead, we are facing a lack of interest in our beloved pubs from the government, which is overseeing, and allowing, the permanent closure currently at the rate of two pubs a day.
“If the government wants to see this appalling rate of closures slow down, it must act to give us targeted, meaningful support now — a cut in VAT and a long-overdue overhaul of the unfair business rates system.
“Freezing alcohol duty will make little if any difference to a trade already suffering from sky-high utility bills, ever-increasing rents and, of course, the cost of living crisis.
“Once again, this government has shown it doesn’t understand or care about the pressures our publicans are under, and the loss of vital local assets so many communities are facing.”
Phil Saltonstall, brewer representative of the campaign and founder of Brass Castle Brewery, said: “It comes as no surprise that the multinational brewers and their linked pub companies have been swift to thank the chancellor for measures announced that do vanishingly little for small independent operators, while providing significant rebates for high-volume producers.
“As small brewers and their publican colleagues face ever more challenges to trade, the pseudo-monopoly of multinational brewers proves again that they have the power to lobby effectively and skew government response in their favour to stifle competition from UK SME brewing businesses.
“Small brewers are nimble, resilient, and our best advocates for the quality and variety in the nation’s favourite drink. Sadly, the autumn statement does nothing to support these key cultural and societal assets, while instead rewarding multinationals that seek to homogenise our beer drinking experience.”
