Brits and beer duty

Today (Feb 27th) the UK will have paid as much in Beer Duty as Germany will pay all year, despite the fact that Germany consumes nearly double the amount of beer. Beer Duty raises a whopping £3.4 billion a year for the Treasury, four times more than any other European nation. Spain brews almost as much beer as the UK yet pay 11 times less in Beer Duty. In fact, for a 5% pint of beer in the UK you pay 54p in Beer Duty, for the same pint in Spain you would pay only 5p.

Great British Bake Off winner and pub owner, Candice Brown, will today protest outside Parliament, trapped under a giant pint glass representing the enormous financial pressure UK pubs are facing. The protest is backed by Long Live The Local – a campaign that celebrates British pubs – as part of a call on the Government to listen to the 250,000 people who have signed a petition asking for a cut in Beer Duty in the upcoming Budget.

Aston spoke to David Cunningham, programme director at British Beer Alliance to discuss the research and also about the campaign which aims to support pubs in the UK.