Latest news with #BrianWhiting
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
How £7 pints are destroying Britain's pubs
Brian Whiting can still remember the first time he had to charge more than £5 for a pint of Guinness in one of his pubs. 'There was a regular who would come in most days and read the paper,' he says. 'The day I put it up to £5, he turned around, walked out and never came back.' The reaction of his former customer just goes to show the depth of feeling about the price of a pint in Britain. However, for publicans, incidents like this are becoming increasingly common. What was once an easy-to-afford commodity has, for many households, become too expensive. Pub owners have been forced to repeatedly raise their prices in recent years after sharp increases in the cost of everything from beer itself to food, fuel and labour. Many fear this has thrust them into a doom-loop, where they must keep raising prices to stay afloat despite the risk of driving away cash-strapped customers. 'It's becoming very toxic,' says Whiting, who runs a string of pubs across the South East. 'You're so frightened, you've got to put prices up ... but you've got no choice but to do it. 'I worry that people think that landlords and publicans are just creaming it and making money. We work on tiny margins and we're trying to survive ... No one wants to charge those prices. 'I'm not sitting on a yacht anywhere.' According to the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), the average price of a pint across the UK rose above £5 for the first time this year. But for pub owners like Whiting, that figure seems strikingly low compared with what they actually have to charge. The days when he could sell a pint for £5 and turn a profit are now a distant memory. 'You'll get a 'cooking lager' for mid-£6, but anything premium now is going over £7 for us,' he says. James Ratcliffe, co-owner of The Black Bull in Sedbergh, Cumbria, agrees: 'Premium lager? We're at about £6.70 a pint now. 'When we first opened [in 2018], we had a pint on sale that was £4.95 ... We were worried about going over the £5 mark. 'The dilemma is that, yes, I can put [the price] up, and yes, people understand why it's going up, but there's a certain point where people say, 'I'm not going to pay it.'' Some large brewers have also been criticised for asking pubs to pay more. Diageo, the parent company of Guinness, was accused of unfairly imposing price rises on the hospitality industry earlier this year. Whiting warns the pint price doom-loop is pushing customers out of pubs and into the supermarkets, where alcohol is significantly cheaper. 'It's not made life easy with supermarkets being able to sell booze so cheap,' he says. Even though pint prices are typically much higher in London, the situation is worse outside the capital and other cities, Whiting believes. 'A lot of people go into a pub in a city and don't even know what they're paying,' he says. 'They tap with their card and off they go. In a village, everybody wants to know how much the cost of a pint is.' It comes amid a deepening crisis in Britain's pub industry. Nearly 300 pubs shut down across England and Wales in 2024 – the equivalent of six per week – according to the BBPA. Nic Sharpe, director of the St John's Tavern in Archway, north London, highlights the barrage of costs facing landlords. 'My energy costs went up by £40,000 last year,' he says. 'Across the board, my wages are £25,000 more. The business rates have just gone up. 'It's like, f------ hell, I'm up on revenue from last year, but it's wiped out by the amount of costs.' Sharpe's prices are approaching the £7 mark too. He currently sells a pint of Estrella Galicia lager for £6.50, which is cheaper than rival venues where he says he has been charged as much as £7.80 for the same brand. Higher taxes have compounded problems. Wage bills have become a particular worry in recent months after Rachel Reeves increased employer National Insurance rates. The changes, announced in her October Budget, took effect in April and have hit the hospitality sector hard. According to a survey by the major hospitality trade bodies, one third of firms in the sector are now operating at a loss. The Telegraph also recently revealed that some pubs have even had to start calling last orders as early as 9pm to save money on staff costs. 'We're living with [higher NI costs] now and we're passing it on, and we're having these conversations and I hate it,' says Whiting. 'The last thing I want to do is increase my beer price, I want my pub to be full of people.' Ultimately, Sharpe believes swathes of smaller businesses will simply go bust. However, as many search for a stay of execution, one thing is certain – further price rises for punters. 'We're knocking on the door of the £10 pint,' says Whiting. 'It's inevitable.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
11 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
How £7 pints are destroying Britain's pubs
Brian Whiting can still remember the first time he had to charge more than £5 for a pint of Guinness in one of his pubs. 'There was a regular who would come in most days and read the paper,' he says. 'The day I put it up to £5, he turned around, walked out and never came back.' The reaction of his former customer just goes to show the depth of feeling about the price of a pint in Britain. However, for publicans, incidents like this are becoming increasingly common. What was once an easy-to-afford commodity has, for many households, become too expensive. Pub owners have been forced to repeatedly raise their prices in recent years after sharp increases in the cost of everything from beer itself to food, fuel and labour. Many fear this has thrust them into a doom loop, where they must keep raising prices to stay afloat despite the risk of driving away cash-strapped customers. 'It's becoming very toxic,' says Whiting, who runs a string of pubs across the South East. 'You're so frightened, you've got to put prices up ... but you've got no choice but to do it. 'I worry that people think that landlords and publicans are just creaming it and making money. We work on tiny margins and we're trying to survive ... No one wants to charge those prices. 'I'm not sitting on a yacht anywhere.' According to the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), the average price of a pint across the UK rose above £5 for the first time this year. But for pub owners like Whiting, that figure seems strikingly low compared with what they actually have to charge. The days when he could sell a pint for £5 and turn a profit are now a distant memory. 'You'll get a 'cooking lager' for mid-£6, but anything premium now is going over £7 for us,' he says. James Ratcliffe, co-owner of The Black Bull in Sedbergh, Cumbria, agrees: 'Premium lager? We're at about £6.70 a pint now. 'When we first opened [in 2018], we had a pint on sale that was £4.95 ... We were worried about going over the £5 mark. 'The dilemma is that, yes, I can put [the price] up, and yes, people understand why it's going up, but there's a certain point where people say, 'I'm not going to pay it.'' Some large brewers have also been criticised for asking pubs to pay more. Diageo, the parent company of Guinness, was accused of unfairly imposing price rises on the hospitality industry earlier this year. Whiting warns the pint price doom loop is pushing customers out of pubs and into the supermarkets, where alcohol is significantly cheaper. 'It's not made life easy with supermarkets being able to sell booze so cheap,' he says. Even though pint prices are typically much higher in London, the situation is worse outside the capital and other cities, Whiting believes. 'A lot of people go into a pub in a city and don't even know what they're paying,' he says. 'They tap with their card, and off they go. In a village, everybody wants to know how much the cost of a pint is.' It comes amid a deepening crisis in Britain's pub industry. Nearly 300 pubs shut down across England and Wales in 2024 – the equivalent of six per week – according to the BBPA. Nic Sharpe, director of the St John's Tavern in Archway, north London, highlights the barrage of costs facing landlords. 'My energy costs went up by £40,000 last year,' he says. 'Across the board, my wages are £25,000 more. The business rates have just gone up. 'It's like, f------ hell, I'm up on revenue from last year, but it's wiped out by the amount of costs.' Sharpe's prices are approaching the £7 mark too. He currently sells a pint of Estrella Galicia lager for £6.50, which is cheaper than rival venues where he says he has been charged as much as £7.80 for the same brand. Higher taxes have compounded problems. Wage bills have become a particular worry in recent months after Rachel Reeves increased employer National Insurance rates. The changes, announced in her October Budget, took effect in April and have hit the hospitality sector hard. According to a survey by the major hospitality trade bodies, one third of firms in the sector are now operating at a loss. The Telegraph also recently revealed that some pubs have even had to start calling last orders as early as 9pm to save money on staff costs. 'We're living with [higher NI costs] now and we're passing it on, and we're having these conversations and I hate it,' says Whiting. 'The last thing I want to do is increase my beer price, I want my pub to be full of people.' Ultimately, Sharpe believes swathes of smaller businesses will simply go bust. However, as many search for a stay of execution, one thing is certain – further price rises for punters. 'We're knocking on the door of the £10 pint,' says Whiting. 'It's inevitable.'
Telegraph
14-04-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Reeves's tax raid forcing pubs to close early
Pubs are being forced to shut their doors early as they scramble to cut costs following the Government's tax raid on employers. Landlords say they have begun calling last orders earlier in the evening to offset extra costs heaped on them by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her October budget. Brian Whiting, the owner of several rural pubs in the South East, said he had started to close up at 9pm instead of 11pm during the week after his company was hit with £190,000 in extra annual costs. His pubs have also begun closing their kitchens at 8pm instead of 9pm some nights. He said the tax situation was 'worse than Covid' for the pub sector. 'I've been going on my own for 25 years, and I think this has become the hardest now for hospitality it's ever been,' he said. Phil Thorley, the owner of Kent-based pub group Thorley Taverns, said he was considering ending dining times early and reducing staff hours in a bid to offset the tax rises. He said the impact of the National Insurance increase alone would be £400,000 extra per year for his business. 'That's eight grand a week in perpetuity. So we're going to have to make changes,' he added. Hospitality businesses are scrambling to make savings after the Ms Reeves increased employers' National Insurance (NI) contributions and lowered the threshold at which they are paid from £9,100 to £5,000. It has been argued the latter disproportionately hurts hospitality because of the number of part time and low-paid staff employed in the sector. Adding to pressures is a 6.7pc rise in the minimum wage, and a cut in the amount of business rates relief offered to smaller retail and hospitality companies. Mr Whiting said: 'That drop in the threshold of NI has massively hit me. I'm very proud that we're often the first job for a lot of youngsters. But is it a false economy now? 'Once upon a time it was good value. We weighed up that they're not going to be as good as older people because they need to learn, and they might not have the confidence. 'Now, when their wages have gone dramatically up, you're getting much more value for money as an employer with employees who are a bit older.' Almost a third (29pc) of hospitality business owners surveyed by trade organisation UK Hospitality said they were planning to reduce their trading hours because of extra costs associated with the October Budget. Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UK Hospitality, said: 'Pubs are being forced to tighten their belts to weather this tax storm and many are choosing to close on quieter days, or to operate on shorter hours to make ends meet. 'Not being able to trade at full capacity hits a pub's bottom line but it also makes it more difficult for communities to pop in for a drink or to eat out with friends and family. That is the custom that our pubs desperately need.' It comes as data suggests drinkers are going home earlier when they do visit pubs and bars. Almost a third of drinkers over 55 surveyed by CGA said they were heading home earlier when they go out, compared with 26pc of people aged 35 to 54 and 21pc of 18 to 34-year-olds. Earlier this month, the Government said it would hand fresh powers to the Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, to call in blocked planning applications amid a growing outcry over the capital's declining nightlife. It is also considering allowing hospitality businesses to stay open later and allow more outside dining. A government spokesman said: 'We are a pro-business government, and we know the vital importance of pubs to local communities and the wider economy, which is why we are supporting them with business rates relief, a 1p cut to alcohol duty on draught pints, capping corporation tax and are protecting the smallest businesses from the employer National Insurance rise – which is helping to fund the NHS.'
