Brewery costs are spiking
(Picture: PA)The cost of a pint of beer is set to rise, a brewing chief said on Friday as the cost-of-living squeeze hitting Britain gets worse.
William Lees-Jones, managing director at Manchester-based JW Lees Brewery which has 150 pubs across the North West and Wales, stressed that CO2, needed for beer production, was “becoming very, very expensive” due to shortages.
Other brewery costs, including transport, are also going up.
Mr Lees-Jones told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Unfortunately, I think it is inevitable that the price of a pint will go up because we can’t just keep absorbing all these increases.
“It would be fantastic to have some sort of stability so that we don’t have to do that.”
However, he also stressed: “At JW Lees at the moment, there is no plan to increase the price of our pints.”
After the cost of filling up hit a record high, former Cabinet minister Sir John Redwood tweeted: “Lots of support for an urgent cut in VAT on petrol and diesel.
“The Chancellor needs to limit the amount he plunders from us at the pumps. How much more inflation does he want? How big a squeeze on incomes?”
Boris Johnson appeared to hint on Thursday that tax on petrol and diesel could be cut.
Asked about the spiralling cost of petrol and diesel, the Prime Minister said that the Government would “continue to look after people in any way that we can”.
