GMB slams Everards beer prices

The GMB has accused Leicestershire brewer and pub operator Everards of charging tenants excessive prices on beer — but the brewer said it makes an "appropriate" profit and is proud of its reputation.

The trade union released figures showing that the 168-tied Everards tenants were being charged £392.67 for a a brewer's barrel of seasonal ale (36-gallons) — a mark up of £233.35 or 146.47%.

It said Everards charges tenants £420.15 for a brewer's barrel of Carlsberg lager — a mark-up of £230.69 or 122% on the £189.46 Everards pays. For 11 draught products, including cider, the percentage mark up is more than 100% and there are 10 products where the mark up exceeds £200 per barrel.

The GMB believes that both the dry and wet rents charged by pubcos are currently too high.

Everards reported operating profits of £3.6m on sales of £30.3m in its most recent year end results.

"Wet rents and dry rents for tied pubs are far too high," said Hayley Brennan of the GMB. "This is one of the main reasons why local pubs are closing because tenants can not make ends meet.

"Everards do not have the buying power of the big pubcos like Punch and Enterprrise who each have 40x the buying power of this outfit. How much less are they paying for products like Carlsberg which is sold to Everards for £189.46. We know these pubco sell it on for  well over £400 per barrel giving them a wet rent of over £220 per barrel or 80p per pint.

Everards chief executive Stephen Gould said: "We're extremely proud of the reputation we've achieved in the industry over a number of years.

"We're not company that makes an inappropriate amount of profit — it's appropriate not least because of the way we continue to invest for the long-term. "We're extremely proud of what we do and it's disappointing that the GMB has unilaterally chosen to do this."

Gould said the information on the price lists was not been directly supplied by Everards.