CAMRA has urged the chancellor to reduce draught beer and cider duty to give pubs a fighting chance of survival.

The call comes as the latest industry figures show hundreds of pubs will close before June next year as energy costs, business rates and tax push pubs to the brink.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) is calling for immediate government action as a new report from Frontier Economics suggests energy bills 300 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels combined with tax pressures are the reason for the dire economic climate facing the beer and pub sector. 

As British Summer Time ended, predictions of another cold winter and continued price volatility due to geopolitical tensions mean that the industry is looking at the loss of another 750 pubs in the first half of 2024.

Unless the chancellor acts in the Autumn Statement just three weeks away, the beer and pub sector faces not just sky-high energy bills, but the double hammer blow of a £12,000 business rates increase and a beer tax hike of unknown size, which many pubs will fail to survive, says the trade association.

BBPA chief executive Emma McClarkin said: “The crisis our pubs and brewers are facing in paying their sky-high energy bills never went away, and the cliff-edge faced earlier this year as the government withdrew support means pubs will again face a struggle to afford to keep the lights on and the bar warm this winter.

“The government must intervene to stop the decimation of our sector, and the jobs and prosperity it brings to towns and villages across the country.

“By ruling out the massive increase in business rates and beer duty both scheduled for next April and implementing the recommendations of Ofgem for regulation of the non-domestic energy market, the government has the chance to return pubs to the invaluable engines of truly nationwide economic growth that they have potential to be.”

CAMRA is urging people to join its campaign to save pubs by contacting their MP using this link: https://camra.e-activist.com/page/137207/action/1