Have you paid £10 or more for a pint of standard beer in London? I haven’t, yet I read in the papers that this is what it now costs. Except that, if you look at the source, you will find that the ‘research’ involves drinking in high-end Mayfair hotel bars and restaurants such as the Connaught Grill. I would suggest that most London drinkers would not go to such establishments for a session and so this is therefore not in any way typical. I can only presume that the journalists involved were on expenses. Scaremongering like this does not help the pub trade. I’m not trying to claim that beer prices are not increasing. Indeed, the price of Guinness recently increased by 5.2%, well above inflation, but then Guinness has its own devoted market which owners Diageo are happy to exploit. The Devonshire in Soho has a reputation for its Guinness and landlord Oisin Rogers told the Times, “I’ve known many a landlord over the years and I know very few who take any pleasure in putting up the price of a pint. Rising costs across the industry have certainly forced the hand of some but pubs need to remain accessible to all. Pints that are too costly will price normal drinkers out of pubs, which defeats the object of being a pub in the first place.”
According to the Morning Advertiser on 14 April, the average price of a pint in London was £6.50, although in many places the norm is nearer £5 even without including Wetherspoon’s. £6.50 was also the price quoted for Basingstoke, Brighton, Guildford, Harlow and Reading, while in Oxford it is £6.75. According to the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), the average UK price is £4.52.
Another statistic heavily quoted recently was that two pubs a day are closing. As I have previously said, I am suspicious of such numbers because they are often ‘weaponised’ to support a particular stance. Speaking on the BBC Radio Four Today programme on 5 May, the BBPA’s chief executive, Emma McClarkin, said that the Government must do more to save our pubs ‘and their business model’. I assume that she was referring to the beer tie, into which an ‘access to market’ review is currently in progress. The large non-brewing pub owning companies, whom the BBPA represent, obviously don’t want the tie to end. Consumers, whom CAMRA represents, may not agree. If pub tenants could buy their beer on the market rather than having to buy it through their pubco at above-market prices, it could help pubs stay profitable and open, give consumers a greater choice and also help local independent breweries stay in business. It isn’t the complete answer, obviously. Additional measures, such as a reduction in VAT for the hospitality industry would also help, but it would be a start.
Tony Hedger