15 years ago: 2011
In the month that saw family brewers defend the beer tie before it received a parliamentary debate, pubs were preparing for the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton by planning parties in celebration of the nuptials and St George’s Day.
Furthermore, the sector responded to the news the Chancellor stuck to plans to increase beer duty 7.5%.
At the time, the British Beer & Pub Association said the Government “delivered a hammer blow to pubs and pubgoers” while SIBA described the move as a “real kick in the teeth to the local brewing sector”.
Also during March 2011, research from legal information provider Sweet & Maxwell found the number of pubs, bars, nightclubs and restaurants surrendering their premises licence increased by 13% over the previous year.
10 years ago: 2016
Five years later, leading operators called on the trade to take a stand against rising prices from brewers and lent their support to an open letter, criticising the hikes, which was sent to then Chancellor George Osborne.
This was followed by Osborne announcing plans to introduce a sugar levy on the soft drinks industry during the Budget.
Also during the fiscal event, changes to business rates were announced, which the BBPA estimated would benefit 75% of pubs.
The move meant small business rate relief would be extended to offer 100% relief to properties with a rateable value of £12,000 or less from April 2017.
The threshold at which the small business multiplier was set for England increased from a rateable value of £18,000 (£25,500 in London) to £51,000.
This sparked mixed reaction from the trade with pub company bosses welcoming the calls alongside calls for more support to help level the playing field for the on-trade while some licensees argued the Chancellor had not delivered on long-promised ‘root and branch reform’ of the rates system.
Elsewhere, a world record for the most people carrying out a beer tasting in one room was officially broken at the Publican Awards where 1,236 guests took part in the tasting, which was led by drinks educator and renowned beer sommelier Jane Peyton.
5 years ago: 2021
As the sector continued to battle against Covid restrictions, the spring Budget in March 2021 saw former Chancellor Rishi Sunak announce plans to increase the national living wage by 19p (2.2%) to £8.91 alongside the continuation of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (furlough) with employers having to partially pay towards hours worked from the summer that year.
Furthermore, he also revealed an extension of the 5% rate of VAT and the business rates holiday as well as beer, cider, wine and spirits duty freeze.
Operators were preparing to reopen beer gardens and MPs backed a campaign calling for the then takeaway alcohol ban to be lifted in time for the restrictions easing.
However, the Government went on to confirm there would be no changes to rules surrounding takeaway pints as rules began to loosen.
The BBPA estimated Covid cost pubs 2.1bn pints, £8.2bn in trade and forced 2,000 closures.
