Ahead of the Spring Budget, the BBPA is calling on the Chancellor to deliver a plan for sustainable growth for an industry that supports local economies and communities everywhere in the UK

Fair, modernised tax rates and a focus on skills and training are needed to ensure pubs and breweries can thrive in every single part of the country, the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has today noted in its submission ahead of the Spring Budget.

After almost three years of extremely tough trading conditions due to lockdowns, an energy crisis, supply chain disruption, ongoing strikes and a dramatic drop in consumer confidence and discretionary spending, the BBPA has outlined why now is a make-or-break moment to save pubs and breweries from failure in the coming months and years.

Calling on the Chancellor to take action at the Spring Budget, and deliver a plan for sustainable growth for businesses, the BBPA has outlined the following measures to support the industry:

• Long-term changes to beer duty rates including:
  
  
  • No increase in the headline rate of beer duty this year reducing the damaging impact of record inflation
  • A significant increase in the discount for draught beer in pubs and implementation of the previously announced reduced rate for lower-strength beers from 1 August 2023 to support public health objectives
    
    
• A reformed business rates system that commits to saving high streets and community assets such as pubs from decimation in the coming years
  
  
• Implementation of training, development and in-work incentives to contribute to resolving the industry’s recruitment challenges

The asks follow the announcement that the Government’s Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) for businesses in its current form would end on 31^st March, launching pubs and breweries back into a vulnerable position, subject to rocketing energy bills that threaten to cripple their businesses, with many expecting up to an 82% rise in bills come April 1st.

Emma McClarkin, Chief Executive of the British Beer and Pub Association said:

“Our country’s pubs and brewers find themselves in an extreme position; they have been operating under extraordinary conditions for close to three years now and many are running out of road.

“Our pubs and breweries need a break. We need fair and modern tax rates to enable growth  rather than putting them at a disadvantage to digital businesses, and skills and development incentives that work for real people and innovative businesses. Given the chance, our pubs and brewers can continue to support jobs and communities up and down the country by investing in people and places.

“The Spring Budget is an opportunity for this Government to show it understands just how much pubs and breweries mean to communities in every single part of the UK.

“It is an opportunity for the Chancellor to invest in a sector that brings so much to so many and help reduce pressures piled on by inflation. If he fails to act on the 15^th March there is a genuine possibility that many of our beloved pubs and breweries simply won’t make it through another year and will be lost from communities forever.”