Feeling bitter over prices?
Last updated 16:01, Monday, 03 November 2008
BEER sales are plunging at the worst rate for a decade – down 7.2 per cent this quarter compared to last year.
The worrying fall has been seen on the UK Quarterly Beer Barometer by the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA).
A total of 161 million fewer pints were sold between July and September compared with the same period last year – a fall of 1.8 million pints a day.
Beer sales in pubs, bars and restaurants fell 8.1 per cent over the same period, while the amount of beer sold in supermarkets and off-licences dropped 6 per cent – the first decline since early last year.
Consumer experts expect this will trigger one of the fiercest supermarket price wars in years as stores slash prices which will only crank up pressure on pubs.
Many publicans already blame the reduced price of supermarket beer for the drop in the pub trade.
Last month, the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) revealed the number of pub closures across the country had risen to 36 a week.
A News & Star investigation in May revealed at least 80 pubs in the county were on the market – for sale or lease – as part of a £20m sell-off.
Last weekend Carlisle celebrated (yes, despite the woes of the industry) a real ale festival offering more than 30 ales, all brewed within the county border.
Organised by the Solway branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), Philip Tuer, the branch liaison officer, is aware how tough times are for pubs.
But he is confident they will survive: “It balances itself out, where there is over-capacity, there will be a reduction.
“If you look closer at those sales figures, they will relate mostly to sales of lager and keg beer, real ale sales are holding up.
“The festival was a near-sell out with 28 barrels and more than 2,000 pints drunk.
“One or two of Cumbria’s smaller breweries are finding competition stiff and have to be competitive with prices, but there are a couple of new breweries about to open in the county.”
Peter Fulton runs the Salutation Inn at High Hesket and is one of the top trainers in the hospitality and catering industry.
He has been involved in the pub trade for 18 years and has never been so concerned.
He said: “It is scary because you are seeing so many businesses and individuals going to the wall. We have to do so much more to get people’s leisure pounds.”
“I survive through diversification – traditional pub at night, no bar meals just a pizza menu, simply good craic and good beer together with pool, darts, dominoes and Sky Sport.
“During the day I use the pub as a training and meeting venue.
“This income supplements the quiet nights.”
He would like to see an end to supermarkets selling beer cheaper than he can buy it from his own suppliers and a cut in beer duty from the Government.
Mr Tuer agreed and said: “The Government needs to try and stop the stranglehold supermarkets have on selling cheap booze.
“They are selling it so cheaply that there is no incentive for people to go to the pub.”
