George Osborne's cut in beer tax praised as 'socially relevant thing to do'
Pulling pints behind the bar at the Kings Arms in Salford, Phillip Shaw found himself in the awkward position of agreeing with the Tories.
"I was brought up a socialist. Everything the Conservative government does is an attack on class as far as I'm concerned. It's always been that beer, fags and petrol and things that working people need have gone up, but in this instance it appears the government's taking working people into account with the price on beer going down," he said.
The Kings Arms is an independent pub owned by Paul Heaton, formerly of the bands the Housemartins and The Beautiful South. Shaw said the decision to abandon the planned 3p rise in beer duty and replace it with a 1p cut on a pint was "a socially relevant thing to do, instead of [people] sitting at home getting as drunk as they can on very cheap alcohol".
At the Dunham Massey brewery in Altrincham, south of Manchester, John Costello, 54, was still working out what the budget statement meant. "Cutting 1p from a pint doesn't really mean much to me. I'm not going to reduce my prices by 1p. I don't want a till full of 1p pieces, do I?" For his own pub in Altrincham, Costello said the decision to scrap the annual beer duty escalator did matter: "What this means is that I don't have to raise my prices like usual."
Elsewhere there was scepticism. In Salford at the Rovers Return, Chapel Street, the landlady (declining to be named) was unimpressed: "Yes, the cost of a pint may have gone down by 1p but that isn't going to make a difference. The breweries will still charge pubs for things like the cost of fuel on the wagons. The reduction on a pint will be cancelled out by the cost of transport."
According to the Campaign for Real Ale, 10,000 British pubs have shut down in the past 10 years as duty on beer has soared. Reported by guardian.co.uk 18 hours ago.
Pulling pints behind the bar at the Kings Arms in Salford, Phillip Shaw found himself in the awkward position of agreeing with the Tories.
"I was brought up a socialist. Everything the Conservative government does is an attack on class as far as I'm concerned. It's always been that beer, fags and petrol and things that working people need have gone up, but in this instance it appears the government's taking working people into account with the price on beer going down," he said.
The Kings Arms is an independent pub owned by Paul Heaton, formerly of the bands the Housemartins and The Beautiful South. Shaw said the decision to abandon the planned 3p rise in beer duty and replace it with a 1p cut on a pint was "a socially relevant thing to do, instead of [people] sitting at home getting as drunk as they can on very cheap alcohol".
At the Dunham Massey brewery in Altrincham, south of Manchester, John Costello, 54, was still working out what the budget statement meant. "Cutting 1p from a pint doesn't really mean much to me. I'm not going to reduce my prices by 1p. I don't want a till full of 1p pieces, do I?" For his own pub in Altrincham, Costello said the decision to scrap the annual beer duty escalator did matter: "What this means is that I don't have to raise my prices like usual."
Elsewhere there was scepticism. In Salford at the Rovers Return, Chapel Street, the landlady (declining to be named) was unimpressed: "Yes, the cost of a pint may have gone down by 1p but that isn't going to make a difference. The breweries will still charge pubs for things like the cost of fuel on the wagons. The reduction on a pint will be cancelled out by the cost of transport."
According to the Campaign for Real Ale, 10,000 British pubs have shut down in the past 10 years as duty on beer has soared. Reported by guardian.co.uk 18 hours ago.