Whistling In The Dark

So, are you optimistic about the UK's economic prospects? If your name is Alistair Darling you will be. Obviously.

Asked last week about the future for UK plc, Darling said there were "grounds for optimism" about the economy. He also revealed that the International Monetary Fund had downgraded the UK "by less than other major economies".

I doubt this news will be of any comfort to those pub and brewing businesses in the eye of a 'perfect storm', components of which include the smoking ban, duty rises, declining beer sales, cheap booze in supermarkets, rising costs and falling discretionary spending.

Some of the pressures we're facing have been global in nature, but many are the work of Darling and his predecessor. That said, bad times have been with us before of course, regardless of who the government has been.

Should pubs - individually or corporately run - be given special treatment, given their cultural, economic and social importance to the nation? It's hard to see it happening, although I expect the arguments for such largesse will gather momentum in the coming year.

There seems little doubt that while a number of pubs in major population centres are more or less holding their own, the storm is relentlessly going about making its presence felt throughout the high street, community and rural pubs of Britain, with obvious consequences.

But as Darling whistled in the dark last week I recalled that some established industry figures have been divesting of late.

Those involved stressed that the timing of said deals had nothing to do with the government's changes to the capital gains tax (CGT) system. But it's hard to see the new tax regime - from the removal of the 10p tax rate to the new CGT rules - as anything but another onerous burden for many in society, pubs and their customers alike.