The government’s Industrial Strategy has overlooked brewers and pubs, and risks undermining economic growth, the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has warned.
Neglecting the sector risks endangering the economy, the jobs market, and the government’s growth mission, the trade association has said in its consultation response.
The strategy’s consultation, which closes today, currently fails to include industries like brewing and pubs, despite their significant economic and cultural contributions.
The oversight is alarming, according to the BBPA, which has called on the government to recognise the sectors as vital cogs in the machinery that drives the UK economy forward.
The association says regulatory burdens, high tax rates, access to skills and employment, and the high cost of doing business, which includes soaring energy costs, are all barriers the sector currently faces and they must be addressed.
“The Industrial Strategy is a real opportunity for government to enable brewers and pubs to help build a brighter, more prosperous UK,” said Andy Tighe, the BBPA’s director of strategy and policy.
“However, it is alarming that the sector is currently overlooked in the strategy. Brewers and pubs pour billions into the economy, support more than one million jobs, from farmers to publicans, and are at the heart of local economies and communities throughout the UK.
“We stand ready to help government swiftly deliver the change that is needed to break down the barriers that stop our sector from contributing even more to the economy and employing more people than ever before.”
The BBPA highlighted that neglecting the sector could not only lead to financial and employment ramifications, but heritage ones, too, as it is intrinsically linked to the UK’s cultural and social fabric.
Britain’s brewing industry is world renowned and is a hugely innovative and diverse market, the BBPA says. Small independents, long-established family businesses, and the world’s largest brewing companies are all part of the UK’s manufacturing sector and must be able to continue operating and investing here.
Pubs play a foundational role in creating communities where people want to live and work, which is a core component of the Industrial Strategy’s focus on distributing economic activity across the UK, the BBPA said.
Pubs’ young workforce
The response came after the BBPA announced that pubs employ more young people than ever before. However, the Budget means the sector may have to make difficult decisions to save jobs.
More than half (51%) of the overall pub sector’s workforce are aged 16 to 24, figures from 2024 Oxford Economics research, commissioned by the BBPA, reveal. That equates to pubs employing one in 10 of all under-25-year-olds in the UK job market.
The data, commissioned by the BBPA, shows that pubs employ 350,000 under-25-year-olds, up from 281,770 in 2019 — an increase of nearly a quarter (24%). This equates to one in 10 of all under-25s in work.
Prior to the Budget, the National Insurance contributions for 350,000 under-25-year-olds were equal to approximately £82m. With the new NICs announced in the Budget, this will now cost £153m to maintain the same amount of under-25-year-old workers.
