Budget will cause 8,000 pub closures
A pubco chief has today sent out a "Mayday warning" to the government, claiming that 8,000 pubs face closure as a result of the Budget.
Speaking to MPs, supermarket representatives and trade figures in Parliament, Jonathan Neame, chief executive of Shepherd Neame, said there was "visceral resentment" towards government as a result of the tax hikes on alcohol.
Speaking at an All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group seminar on the minimum pricing of alcohol, Neame said: "Licensees do not wish to be penalised for the behaviour of a young minority.
"The industry sent out a genuine Mayday warning and we are now sending out another one.
"It's too late to save some pubs. The implication is profound. When history looks back, it will remember two things: the needless loss of pubs and the arrogance and thoughtlessness of government."
He added that the Budget duty hikes clearly represented "an end to evidence-based policy" and that 80,000 jobs could be lost in the pub industry.
Neame said the price differential on alcohol between pubs and the off-trade was now 4:1, compared to 1:1 30 years ago.
Later Jeff Newton, president of Canada's National Brewers, Central and Eastern Region, explained the system of social reference pricing - minimum pricing - which currently operates in three of the country's states, across the on-trade and off-trade. "The primary purpose is so we don't get into excessive discounting and problems with youth drinking," he said.
He said that as the alcohol content of drinks rise, so does the minimum price. "It's more effective than tax increases," he added.
John Grogan, chairman of the Beer Group, concluded the meeting by saying there was a "potential coalition of interests" between the on-trade and off-trade for adopting minimum pricing.
After the meeting, Neame told thepublican.com minimum pricing could be one tool to mitigate the damage of the Budget, but it was "too early in the process" to say if it would be successful.
