Government “Pricing People Out of Pub” CAMRA Warns
Nearly half of UK pubgoers are cutting back on pub visits as cost pressures bite. The Chancellor is warned that the cost-of-living crisis is pricing people out of the pub, new polling shows.
As CAMRA launched Great British Beer Festival in Birmingham it issued a stark warning government ahead of Autumn Budget.
New polling from YouGov reveals that 45% of pubgoers say they are going to the pub less often in the past 12 months due to the rising cost of living – a clear signal that urgent action is needed to protect the nation’s pubs, publicans and brewers.
In the Midlands, where CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival kicks off this week, 45% report cutting back on pub visits, showing this issue hits hard even in Britain’s pub heartlands.
CAMRA Chairman, Ash Corbett-Collins, said:
“People want to support their local pubs, but the reality is, they’re being priced out. With lower disposable incomes and publicans being forced to put up prices through no fault of their own by rising running costs, for a lot of people a regular night out at the pub just isn’t affordable.
“This is a warning sign for the future of our locals. If people can’t afford to go, pubs can’t survive. But luckily, the Chancellor can use the Autumn Budget to help fix this.
“We are demanding the government use the upcoming Autumn Budget to help make pubs more accessible: starting by rolling back on the disastrous hike in National Insurance Contributions, cutting VAT for pubs just like they’re planning to do in Ireland, introducing significantly lower business rates bills for pubs and brewers, and cutting tax specifically on pints served in pubs. These measures are desperately needed to secure the future of our beloved locals, world-renowned breweries and to stem further price hikes for drinkers.”
But it’s not all doom and gloom. These figures come as CAMRA opens the UK’s biggest pub: the Great British Beer Festival in Birmingham. This five-day celebration of beer, cider and pub culture will welcome revellers with more than 600 drinks on offer and bars named after iconic pubs saved from closure, showing that community action really does work.
This year’s festival is championing the Keep Cask Alive campaign to have cask beer recognised as a cultural asset by UNESCO, marking the two-year anniversary of the Crooked House tragedy with a rallying cry to protect community locals, highlighting the boom in low and no-alcohol beers with a record-breaking selection, and sending a clear message to government ahead of the Autumn Budget on what pubs, brewers and cider makers need to survive and thrive.