A group of family and regional brewers is pleading with Gordon Brown to review Progressive Beer Duty (PBD) in next week's Budget.
The brewers have sent a submission to the Chancellor which reviews the history and circumstances of the tax break. They claim that the introduction of PBD in a country with a high duty rate has led to a raft of problems.
The Publican understands the submission has been signed by Adnams, Charles Wells, Black Sheep, Robinson's, Joseph Holt, JW Lees, Fuller's, Hall & Wood-house, Hydes, Theakstons, Timothy Taylor, Ringwood, Wadworth and Wychwood.
It follows growing frustration at the tax break awarded to smaller brewers since 2003, and which, they claim, has created an unlevel playing field among the brewers (The Publican, March 13).
Simon Loftus, chairman of Adnams, said the group's grievances lay with the government rather than the microbrewers. "Our argument is with the Treasury and the way PBD is running, not with the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) and the microbrewers," Mr Loftus declared. "We agree with almost everything SIBA says - except its stance over PBD."
Dissatisfaction over PBD was also voiced by some companies in a meeting of the Independent Family Brewers of Britain last Wednesday. The brewers are upset at what they see as abuse of the PBD system by some microbrewers which are using the duty relief to undercut the prices of bigger cask ale brewers, rather than invest the money in their brands.
Rupert Thompson, chief executive of Refresh UK, whose Wychwood brewery brews 70,000 hectolitres a year - just over the 60,000 qualifying PBD limit - says the policy needs reviewing.
"We need to hear everybody's point of view. There are some good things to have come out of PBD, but we also need to identify the things that are not working and improve them," he said. "We need to take out the market-distorting effect of PBD and make it a level playing field for competition."
The suggestion from well-placed industry sources is that between 30 and 40 brewers would sign up to any petition asking for a review of PBD.