FDBusiness.com

CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, has revealed how Britain’s pub closure rate has increased to 18 a week, with over 450 pubs across the country having been lost since March. The latest CGA-CAMRA Pub Tracker, covering the period of March-September 2012, reports an increase on previous findings (12 per week for the period September 2011–March 2012), showing the extent to which Britain’s community pubs are ‘struggling against the burden of taxation, low supermarket pricing and poor consumer confidence.’

With Britain’s pub closure rate now back on the increase, CAMRA is calling for a review of the social and economic impact of the beer duty escalator before Budget 2013. Since the beer duty escalator was introduced in 2008 – a system which penalises Britain’s beer drinkers by automatically increasing duty by 2% above inflation every year – CAMRA reports that over 5,800 pubs have closed. Beer sales also continue to plummet, with the British Beer and Pub Association reporting that UK beer sales have fallen by 5.6% from July–September alone.

“For too long, Britain’s beer drinkers have been forced to endure inflation busting rates of tax on their pint, while the Treasury’s own projections show that these hikes will fail to bring in any additional revenue over the next three years,” says Mike Benner, CAMRA chief executive.