At the last Budget, Rachel Reeves said a cut in beer duty ‘means a penny off a pint in the pub’.
But drinkers are being warned that the flurry of other tax rises announced by the Chancellor mean prices are, in fact, going up.
Shepherd Neame, which dates back to 1698 and is Britain’s oldest brewer, said it is facing an extra £2.6million a year in costs due to a rise in National Insurance and the minimum wage next month.
The Kent-based company, whose beers include Spitfire, Bishops Finger and Whitstable Bay, said that it intended to ‘mitigate the majority of these costs over the next 18 months through price increases’ and savings.
‘The additional costs imposed on our sector are most unwelcome,’ said chief executive Jonathan Neame.
The company, which runs 290 pubs, said revenue fell 4.5 per cent to £85m in the six months to late December, but profits rose nearly 10 per cent to £4.2million.
Having a larf: Comedians Ben Miller and Alexander Armstrong in a Shepherd Neame pub. The brewer said it is facing an extra £2.6m a year in costs due to rises in NI and the minimum wage
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