Poll: have you increased beer prices at your pub?
Data from the Office For National Statistics (ONS) earlier this week revealed the average cost of a pint of draught lager increased by 1.9% in the three months to January 2023.
Bitter also saw price increases between October 2022 and January 2023, rising by 0.8%.
This month also saw Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) increase wholesale selling prices across its portfolio by a minimum of 11% for draught products and from about 6% for packaged products, which the company put down to rising cost pressures.
At risk
In addition, Heineken UK increased its SmartDispense fees by 9.1% while Black Sheep Brewery upped prices for its cask, keg and packaged products by 19.5% this month.
Moreover, a third (32%) of hospitality businesses are at risk of failure in the next 12 months, the latest data from the Q1 Hospitality Members Survey showed, while the number of pub insolvencies has risen by more than a quarter (83%) in the past year, according to data from accountancy group UHY Hacker.
However, breweries have also been feeling the pinch with prices for obligated recycling fees having more than doubled in 2022.
No choice
BrewDog CEO James Watt also recently claimed if the company were to increase prices in line with energy costs that a pint of its Punk IPA would cost around £27.50.
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) National Chairman Nik Antona said: "With energy bills for businesses going through the roof and the cost of goods and employing staff rocketing too, pubs and the breweries that serve them have had no choice but to put up prices in order to make ends meet.
"If the Government doesn’t use the Spring Budget to change its plans to slash help for pubs with energy costs from April, then we risk seeing further price hikes at the bar - or more pub closures.”
