Quote:
Originally Posted by Barrie Yates
The other factor is undoubtedly consecutive governments - irrespective of colour, having an easy source of revenue - don't blame the breweries entirely, how much tax (VAT, Customs & Excise), on a pint of beer or a bottle of whisky?
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All governments have always raised tax by a few pence each budget on fags and booze but in the grand scheme of things that isn't what hits the pubs hardest.
A free house might be able to buy a keg of Fosters for £130 whereas a tied house is forced to buy it from the brewery at twice that price and still pay rent on top of that.
I've been a quizmaster for a long time and a very good landlord friend of mine has just this week given up because of the breweries. He has run two pubs, both in excess of five years each, and turned them both round from being dumps into thriving industries. The brewery, thinking that they'd get a slice of the pie, raised his rent sky high on both occasions so it was hardly worth him opening the doors.
Now I'm faced with some 21 year old kid who's been flown in to fill the gap, ostensibly because running a pub looks like fun. It's not all fun and games, it's bloody hard work and the pub will suffer as a result just as I have seen exactly the same scenario elsewhere.
The blame is fairly and squarely at the brewery's door, tax rises are a drop in the ocean really.