Beer lovers could soon pay an extra 50p for a pint , a pub boss has warned.
City Pub Company chairman Clive Watson said pubs were taking a hammering from low footfall and rising business costs .
Speaking on the BBC Today programme this week, Watson said the cost of a pint would rise by 40p to 50p in London.
Watson said pubs were taking a "whacking" due to staffing issues and the rising cost of doing business.
One beer supplier told him it would hike prices by 7%, he added.
Watson said: "The first week [of January] was pretty brutal to be honest, and it was very, very quiet even for a normal January. Sales just almost non-existent."
the average cost of a UK pint is £4.07, according to figures from the British Beer and Pub Association published in the Sun .
How much would you pay for a pint? Let us know in the comments below
Londoners pay £4.84 for theirs on average, but the cost of many pints in the capital is now more than £6.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of trade organisation UK Hospitality, said: “This is weighing very heavily on these businesses, which have had nothing but a torrid time, and the price of a pint and a meal out will have to rise.”
One of the most vocal critics of the tax paid by pubs is Wetherspoons founder Tim Martin.
Last September Wetherspoons cut the price of booze and food by 7.5% for one day , to protest high VAT rates.
The pub chain is making the price cuts in protect against hospitality tax rates shooting up.
Pubs like Wetherspoons normally pay 20% VAT, but were still paying 5% thanks to government cuts to help the sector weather the pandemic.
That 5% rate rose to 12.5% at the end of September 2021, and will go back to 20% this year.
But Wetherspoons chairman Tim Martin wants the tax rate to be maintained at 5% to keep pubs afloat, and cut prices in his pubs to highlight this.
Martin said pubs are suffering with competition from supermarkets selling booze.
Supermarkets don't pay VAT on food, which helps them sell alcohol at cut-price rates.
The cost of some booze will fall under plans unveiled by chancellor Rishi Sunak in his 2021 Budget - but not until next year.
The cost of beer and sparking wine will fall, but whisky and vodka prices will rise, all from February 2023.
Currently there is a complicated system of 15 separate tax bands for booze, across four main areas: beer , cider, spirits and wine.
But now the chancellor will do away with the old system and bring in a new one. The stronger a drink is, the more it will be taxed.
This means tax cuts on drinks like normal-strength beer, wine, cider and liqueurs, but hikes on spirits like whisky.
How much popular drink prices will change
- Stella Artois, pint - down 3p from £3.80 to £3.77
- Frosty Jacks cider, 750ml bottle - up 45p from £3.70 to £4.15
- Kopparberg strawberry and lime cider, pint - down 13p from £3.80 to £3.67
- Hardy's Merlot wine, 750ml bottle - up 35p from £7 to £7.35
- Blossom Hill rosé, 750ml bottle - down 12p from £8 to £7.88
- Buckfast fortified wine, 750ml bottle - up 81p from £8.50 to £9.31
- Bailey's Irish cream, 750ml bottle - down 41p from £17 to £16.69
