16 February 2015 - Best Beer HQ
British beer sales up after 10 year decline
Breweries and pub owners in the United Kingdom are breathing a sigh of relief as a decade of declining beer sales finally comes to an end.
The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) has reported a 1.3% increase in beer consumption in the UK in 2014, which is great news for a beleaguered industry that has seen a whopping 24% decline since 2004.
In other words, there has been 6.7 million fewer pints of beer sold every day than there was in 2004.
The BBPA, the leading body representing British brewers and pubs, has blamed the decade-long decline in beer sales on two “huge” tax rises that raised the duty on beer by 42% from 2008 to 2013. That meant that the tax on a typical pint of beer increased from 42p ($0.65c US) to 65p ($1 US).
However, after two recent tax cuts it’s looking as though beer sales in the UK are looking much healthier.
BBPA chief executive Brigid Simmonds commented: “British beer is back in growth – and we want to keep it that way. But with 70% of pub drink sales being beer, the picture for our much loved pubs is still fragile.
“That is why another duty cut from the Chancellor is vital. It will build on the success of two very popular tax cuts in the past two years, and boost jobs in an industry that employs 900,000 people, almost half of whom are 16-24 year olds. That has got to be good news.”
The sales figures in 2014 weren’t all rosy. Beer sales in pubs were still in decline in 2014, with a year-on-year drop of 0.8% – the smallest decline in 10 years, but still a decline nonetheless. Meanwhile, the total number of pubs in the UK continues to fall. There were 48,006 pubs in Britain in 2013 – 1,427 fewer than the year before and 19,794 less than in 1982.