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.
