'Calls for alcohol duty to be scrapped'

The government should cut alcohol duty on beer, the British Beer & Pub Association says, after industry data showed a record fall in beer sales. Sales of beer from UK pubs, restaurants and shops in the last quarter of 2008 were down 8.3% from the same period in 2007, the BBPA said - BBC​

Beer sales in pubs fell by 9.9 per cent in the final quarter of 2008, putting a further big dent in the Treasury's duty revenues. Supermarkets and off-licences, which until recently had remained relatively resilient, also saw a slowdown as Britain slid into recession, suffering a 6.5 per cent fall in beer sales. The Fair Pint campaign is calling for the beer tie that governs supplies to be scrapped -The Times ​

Penzance faces Britain's biggest number of pub and restaurant closures, according to data collated for The Times by CACI, the location consultants. Yet the picture is not all bleak — the Home Counties look insulated from the downturn. Romford, in Essex, emerges as the town with the highest available spending per premises - The Times​

A landlady said she feared for the safety of her staff and customers when thugs hurled a sheep's head through her pub window. Police are hunting a group of men who targeted The Lodge, in Alvaston, and The Mitre, in Allenton, before Nottingham Forest's clash with Derby County on Friday - This is Nottingham​

Publicans have protested outside a Burton pub giant's headquarters to highlight the harm they claim the company is inflicting on their livelihoods. Up to 150 demonstrators waving placards and chanting slogans staged their demonstration yesterday in front of Punch Taverns' base, in Centrum 100 - Burton Mail​

Desperate licensees have broken a century of tradition and protested at the offices of a leading pub chain in Solihull to try to stave off a growing crisis in the sector.More than 100 licensees and their customers from across the country demonstrated outside the main offices of Enterprise Inns in Monkspath Hall Road. The protestors presented a letter to Enterprise chief operating officer Simon Townsend calling for a fairer deal on rents and beer prices but the company refused to accept it during the demonstration - Birmingham Post​