Since the March 2008 budget was announced by Chancellor Alistair Darling, a lot of vitriol and anger has been aimed at him, and quite rightly too. Since November 2005, the pub trade has been the victim of negative press, starting with the highly controversial new Licensing Act, which saw many establishments able to increase their hours and a handful being entitled to stay open 24 hours if they so chose.
Binge drinking, under-age drinking and violence have all been attributed to the pub trade since then, many of the accusations falsely made, and in 2007 we were hit with the smoking ban. Many – even smokers – supported the ban, but felt that some flexibility could have been made for certain establishments. Add that to a wet summer, rising production costs and the increases in transport and the trade knew that severe price rises were coming to the cost of alcohol for 2008, and so did the government.
Because of this, there was hope that the Chancellor would give the trade a reprieve from draconian tax rises this year but instead he increased alcohol tax by 10% and put in place a system that ensures alcohol will rise by 2% above the rate of inflation every year for the next four years – another stealth tax that will allow him, in the 2009 budget, to not mention alcohol at all, safe in the knowledge that it is going to creep up again and again.
Figures from different organisations vary, but it is widely believed that an average of 54 pubs a month are closing at the moment, either because of financial difficulties or because the current landlords just feel the trade is no longer financially viable for the future – and that’s a shame. Pubs are a great place to meet friends, meet new people, enjoy entertainment, have a good meal, bask in sunshine in a well-kept garden during the summer and enjoy a pint of well kept beer or a nice glass of wine. The reputation that pubs have of cultivating binge-drinkers, violence, alcoholism and under-age drinking is wholly false, yet it is the acts of a minority that have resulted in the majority of us suffering.
A Sheriff-of-Nottingham approach to taxation is not the solution to the problems the trade is apparently facing. Supermarkets offer alcohol at ridiculously low prices and, whilst we can’t legislate to increase their prices, regulations can be brought in to control their sales and make them more responsible. Currently, it is extremely easy for younger people to obtain alcohol in off-trade establishments such as supermarkets and garage forecourts. New rules can be brought in to make it illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to purchase alcohol from such establishments, whilst still allowing 18-21 year olds to drink in pubs. Banning supermarkets from advertising their cheap alcohol would go a long way to discouraging young or so-called binge-drinkers from thinking about where to go next for their alcohol and altering the tax system so that alcohol sold on-trade, such as cask beer which is only sold via the pump in a pub, enjoys a lower tax bracket than that sold off-trade.
The majority of people who do cause a problem on the streets have often purchased alcohol cheaply from supermarkets and consumed that at home first, before going out on the town and causing trouble. Pubs offer a safe and socially responsible environment for people to enjoy themselves – let’s encourage them to use such establishments.
You can do your bit to help your local, either by visiting the pub and getting to know the people who use it or simply showing your support by signing one of the many petitions on the web. Some are listed in the column to the left; whilst some are humorous, all have a serious point to them.
Remember, 27% of the price of your drink goes to the Government. It is understandable why that might make some angry, but banning Alistair Darling from every pub in the land is not necessarily the way forward. Instead, he should be made to visit those pubs at threat of closure and see just what they offer, how much damage the trade is suffering at the hands of those who don’t understand it, and just what a loss to the community such establishments will be.