Hoppy Beer Day Britain!

Indeed, happy Beer Day Britain 2025 (website), an annual event that has been going on for ten years now, on June the 15th every year, and instigated by beer sommelier and writer Jane Peyton, cheers Jane! The day is supported by many drinkers and organisations, including the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA), and the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA).

This day is on the same date (please forget about the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752 😉) as the signing of the Magna Carta (National Archives), which said in Article 35 "Let there be throughout our kingdom a single measure for wine and a single measure for ale..." 🍺no coincidence methinks! Of course, historically, drinking ale was generally more healthy than drinking untreated water, so the importance of beer in British society was very understandable, not to forget the importance of the public house. As I regularly say, go to a village you've never visited, look out for the church tower or spire, and the village pub, or pubs, will be nearby, although the sad loss of pubs in recent years doesn't make this so for every village now.

Whatever your favourite style of beer, raise a glass at 19.00 hours and say "Cheers to Beer!"

Cheers folks! 😁 #CheersToBeer 

87 MILLION Wasted Pints, it brings tears to my eyes...

Now I've seen the stats I'm even more depressed! The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) tells us that 87 MILLION pints of beer will have been thrown away, gone down the drain, however you want to put it, over the last year due to the COVID-19 Crisis. That's worth about £331 MILLION of lost revenue, which would normally pay for hundreds of thousands of jobs in the trade (website).

An example of how this effects individual pubs is explained by Garry Tennant, landlord of the Red Lion in Chobham, Surrey (website), who employs 16 staff and estimates his total losses "could total £130,000 by the time pubs reopen" (BBC).

The BBPA is calling for further help from the Government, reminding them of the huge amount of tax loss that results from pubs being closed, not just Income Tax and National Insurance for staff members, but Corporation Tax and VAT, and BEER DUTY. Emma McClarkin (BBPA Chief Executive) said that  "£1 in every £3 spent goes to the taxman because of excessively high beer duty. We pay 11 times more beer duty than Germany or Spain" (BBPA). The BBPA is asking the Government to support the industry, and to provide further grants if they force pubs to stay closed after March, and to extend the VAT cut and Business Rates holiday.

I've heard a rumour that pubs may reopen in May, fingers crossed it's no later.