... its synonyms include ‘at someone’s mercy’, ‘in a difficult situation’, ‘without options’ or ‘in a jam’.
In more seasonal issues, hello hospitality heroes! I hope the warm weather (the summer more than likely) in April and May has helped build some sales for everyone.
It is a while ago that I wrote (ranted) in an opinion piece about the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA). It was just as we welcomed the new year in and I pointed out how much the BBPA celebrated a penny off a pint as a landmark win for pubs (and, of course, brewers).
I have been proved right since, when I warned, in that piece, of upcoming big brewery increases, as prices continue to rise on lagers and stouts, forcing us, in turn, to keep putting prices up to our customers and guests when we really don’t want to.
We should be choosing for ourselves what prices we need to review, and when, in order to defend ourselves against the increased costs facing our pubs through Labour policies. Yet our hand is forced by yet more beer price increases.
So I decided to Google ‘how many pints of lager were sold by Heineken in the UK last year?’ and what came up was…
“It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact number of pints of lager sold by Heineken in the UK, as specific sales figures are not publicly released. However, Heineken’s market share and the overall size of the UK on-trade beer market can give a general idea.”
3bn pints
The on-trade beer and cider market in the UK is worth £13.5bn, equivalent to 3bn pints poured in pubs annually.
In 2024, the most sold lager in the UK – by value – was Birra Moretti, followed by Carling. While Carling was previously the leading lager, Birra Moretti has seen a significant increase in sales, with The MA Drinks List 2025 indicating that Birra Moretti had over £1bn in sales in 2024.
So I Googled ‘how many pints of Moretti were sold in pubs last year?’ and guess what? The answer was the same…
“It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact number of Moretti pints sold in pubs last year without specific data from the brewery or pub associations. However, it’s known that Birra Moretti is the best-selling draught lager in the UK. In 2021, for example, more than four pints of Birra Moretti were poured every second in the UK.”
So without spending an age Googling any further, I thought maybe no one wants us to find out how many pints are sold because then we can calculate how much a penny a pint off duty is worth to each brewer.
So, based on 3bn pints sold, 1p a pint equates to a further £3m in profit to brewers. Yep, 1p a pint is worth £3m. When they then put a further 5p on a pint as an annual increase pro-rata it’s worth a further £15m more profit.
We are the big brewers’ ‘cash cow’ and they simply keep milking us for all we have! 1p off a pint was worth less than £4,000 to our company over a year. How can that be helpful versus the costs we face. Before anyone says it’s all relative… it isn’t. Big breweries are making mass millions thanks to the pubs they continue to punish with price increases.
Far more competitive
Before the big brewers say ”ah, but you need our big beer brands on the bar”, oh no we don’t, and now is the time for all of us to be considering how to move on and investigate smaller English lager brewers who can be far more competitive and can also easily match, if not beat, the quality and taste.
The big brewers, supported by the BBA (the P is missing for a reason) need to heed my warning… you can’t keep ‘stealing from the sacred cow’ after all there’s a limit to how much you can exploit or take advantage of something that is considered valuable.
So when the BBA, under the guise of ‘Long Live the Local’, email you to tell you to “keep pints affordable” and encourage you to write to your MP to get a penny off a pint, please think twice. We are getting crippled by duty on wine and spirits while the big brewers are living the life of Riley thanks to the BBA and its campaign.
On a more positive note, as a business, we have, for 15 years, ensured all our ale is from within a 35-mile radius of each of our pubs and only sourced from local microbrewers. Prices here remain competitive as we work together to ensure our collective growth (and survival) plus at the same time we are supporting local business, endeavour and employment.
I have declared previously in another opinion piece that cask ale should be the pride of England, it is the one thing an English pub has that is unique. It is the most sustainable pint on the bar, it is the most traditional pint on the bar and it is the most reasonably priced pint on the bar.
Local cask ale has to be at the centre of a successful pub. So to all of you out there that can… buy local cask ale (and lagers) and support local business that will in turn support you. Roll out the barrel! Cheers!
- To see The Morning Advertiser’s Drinks List 2025, simply click here and fill in a few details then access will be yours for free.
