- Beer sales up 0.7 per cent in 2017 (an extra fifty-five million pints)
- Positive end to year for beer sales supported by the freeze in the Budget in November
- On-trade sales still fall by 2.4 per cent in 2017
- Quarterly ‘Beer Barometer’ from the British Beer & Pub Association
Sales of British beer rose by 0.7 per cent in 2017, with a positive end to the year supported with a welcome freeze in beer duty in the November Budget. This increase in sales means that fifty-five million more pints of beer were sold in 2017, compared with the previous year.
Whilst there has been an increase in overall beer sales, sales in pubs and bars still fell by 2.4 per cent, the biggest drop since 2013. This equates to nearly 88 million fewer pints sold in pubs than the previous year. This is due to a combination of factors including a 3.9% duty increase in March, higher operating costs for pubs including business rates increases and sharply rising employment costs, as well as fragile consumer confidence.
Beer sales have been largely stable over the past three years after several years of sharp decline. This trend has been greatly helped by three, one penny cuts in beer duty from 2013-2015, and a duty freeze in 2016.
Prior to 2013, there was a slump of 14 per cent in sales under the controversial beer duty escalator, when a tax hike of 42 per cent from 2008-13 was accompanied by 58,000 job losses and 7,000 pub closures.
BBPA Chief Executive Brigid Simmonds comments:
“Whilst it is encouraging to see beer sales rise slightly in 2017, it is still hugely concerning to see on-trade sales fall for the seventeenth year in a row. This shows just how important the decision to freeze beer duty in the Autumn Budget was, particularly after an inflation-busting 3.9 per cent rise in the Spring Budget. Cutting beer duty is hugely important to community pubs where on average seventy percent of alcohol sold is beer.
“The Autumn Budget helped safeguard jobs, pubs and investment in a very British manufacturing industry and it is essential that the Government continues to support beer and pubs throughout 2018. Further support on duty and tackling the disproportionate rates bill paid by pubs remain top priorities for us.”
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
David Wilson, Director of Public Affairs: 020 7627 9151/ 07557 405815
Adam Beazley, Campaigns & Communications Officer 020 7627 9155 / 07507 836708
Notes to editors:
To view the full ‘Beer Barometer’ data on the BBPA website, see spreadsheet here.
For more information and infographics on the key economic issues affecting the beer and pub sector, see ‘The Beer Story – Facts on Tap’ leaflet and infographics, see http://www.beerandpub.com/thebeerstory.
The British Beer & Pub Association is the leading body representing Britain’s brewers and pub companies. The Association is more than a century old and was originally founded as the Brewers’ Society in 1904. Our members account for over 90 per cent of beer brewed in Britain today, and own around 20,000 of the nation’s pubs.
The BBPA has a long-established and authoritative reputation for the publication of statistics on the UK’s brewing and pub sector. Data is sourced directly from the Association’s brewing members and is the definitive measure of the UK beer market.
In addition to the data available with this news release more detailed data is available to purchase from the BBPA. This includes a more detailed look at category performance and monthly breakdowns. For information about purchasing other data from the BBPA, please contact poakley@beerandpub.com