Nation divided on beer prices
The north west has the cheapest beer in the UK, a Campaign for Real Ale survey has revealed. The annual prices survey carried out in March by Camra members involved the collection of almost 6,500 beer and cider prices from more than 1,000 pubs around the UK. The average price of a pint of ale was found to be £1.75 in the north west. The south-east, where the average price was £2.15, was the dearest. The least expensive region for cider was the south west at £1.83 while the most expensive area was East Anglia where a pint of cider will set you back £2.36. With UK inflation at 3.1%, average price rises were an inflation beating 2.65% to 2.7%. However, since the survey was conducted, 1p has been added to beer duty increasing retail prices by 2p or 3p a pint. Since last year's survey, the average price of a pint of ale has risen by 6p to £1.98 while the average price of a pint of lager has also risen 6p from £2.11 to £2.17. The first Camra survey was in 1989 when the average price of a pint of real ale was 98p. In 1993 when they started recording the price of lager as well, the averages stood at £1.40 for a pint of real ale and £1.56 for a pint of lager. With the average price of a pint of real ale 19p less than a pint of lager, Mike Benner, Camra's head of campaigns and communications, said: "There are over 2,000 different real ales in today's market and it is pleasing to see that they are generally on sale at an affordable price. "It is essential that pubs strike the right balance between quality, price and variety." The lowest recorded price of real ale was 99p and the highest was £3.00, in London.
