Campaigners calling for the Alcohol Duty Escalator (ADE) to be scrapped met with the economic secretary to the Treasury last week to ramp up their crusade.
The new chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance has urged Chancellor George Osborne to scrap the alcohol-duty escalator, which he said is causing damage to pubs.
The PMA’s Beer Innovation Summit took place at St George’s Park in Burton-on-Trent (the new home of England football) last week, and attracted an audience of nearly 200 delegates, keen to hear about the ‘next big thing’ in beer.
So beer consumption is down yet again, with the BBPA reporting that 138 million less pints were consumed in the last quarter of 2012 than the same period in 2011. Pub trade consultant Publican Sam considers the implications.
When I worked in advertising, my life was full of smug aphorisms and parables. Creative directors especially loved to throw out comments that seemed unarguable, and then sit back like some coke-fuelled Buddha and watch you squirm.
At times, campaigning against the beer-duty escalator has felt like pushing a beer keg uphill. Politicians and the national media have long paid lip service to the importance of pubs and breweries and the impact of taxes, but in truth there’s been little...
Phew — we’re finally there (or thereabouts)! Getting 100,000 signatures on the petition against the alcohol duty escalator was somewhat harder than we thought it would be when Marston’s Wychwood brewery first pitched the idea to us at the start of the...
Adnams, the Suffolk brewer and pub operator, has criticised the government, which its says seems to be intent upon “continuing its misguided policies regarding beer duty”.
This is going to be my last column on the duty escalator for a little while. It’s not that the issue is going away — far from it. I just don’t want to turn into one of those zealots you start trying to avoid.
Jo Theakston, marketing director at Black Sheep Brewery, estimated that the business will have to pay an extra £400,000 in duty — last year it paid £7.5m on a turnover of £19m.
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has hit back at criticism levied against it by leading beer writer and PMA columnist Pete Brown for delaying its support for a petition against the beer duty escalator.
Pub companies and trade groups have expressed their dismay at the Chancellor’s decision to maintain the alcohol duty escalator in the 2012 budget, which has resulted in a 5% rise in duty - to come into force at midnight on Sunday.
Among the many strengths and weaknesses we have in this industry, one thing we’re absolutely brilliant at is moaning. We’re world-class moaners. Every week, the pages of this magazine are full of people complaining about stuff.
