One positive point of the budget was news that draught duty was to reduce – saving drinkers a penny off a pint in the pub.
While Rachel Reeves announced that alcohol duty rates on non-draught products will increase in line with RPI next year as a part of Labour’s efforts to plug what it claims is a £22 billion ‘black hole’ in public finances, there was some good news for beer lovers – the price of a pint pulled in a pub will decrease by a penny.
The official reasoning for this is to 'encourage responsible drinking in social, controlled settings’.
The Chancellor's announcement gained big cheers from MPs in the House of Commons.
Ms Reeves added that the Government will renew the tobacco duty escalator for the remainder of the Parliament at RPI (Retail Prices Index) plus 2%, increase duty by a further 10% on hand-rolling tobacco this year and introduce a flat-rate duty on all vaping liquid from October 2026.
For many pubs, it will slightly sweeten the pill of increased national minimum wage rates and employer National Insurance contributions, plus reductions in rate relief in many areas. But many will not be able to consider cutting beer prices.
Alison Boutoille, founder of the CityStack London Pub Collection, says: "The recent reduction in alcohol duty for draught beers is a positive step, indicating that the Government recognises the importance of pubs as vital community hubs.
"However, the increases in National Insurance and minimum wage, while necessary to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, impose further financial burdens on small businesses."
Many publicans have taken matters into their own hands and they are now looking at ways to bring in more revenue in the build-up to Christmas, one of the busiest times of the year in the hospitality trade.
But, with fierce competition from the big chains, they are having to find new ways to stand out.
CityStack is an initiative to support independent pubs and help Londoners socialise within their budget with a special beermat that gives £10 off a £20 spend at any ten of their 50+ participating London pubs.
Recommended reading:
- Hospitality and leisure businesses warn of 'devastating' budget
- Employer National Insurance contribution to rise to 15 per cent
- Mortgage rates jump after budget chilling effect on markets
"Independent pubs have faced a myriad of challenges in recent years, including inflation, declining customer numbers, staff shortages, and skyrocketing operating costs," says Alison.
"What they need now is relief from financial pressure, not more. It would have been beneficial to see greater support from the Government to help small businesses thrive."
It remains to be seen whether the penny on each pint will actually reduce bills for customers, or if it will have to go towards mitigating the losses of increased taxation in other parts of the budget.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel