Pubs plea for tax break on beer to help Northamptonshire economy and jobs market
PUBS are urging the Government not to increase beer tax in next month’s budget so businesses can continue to support the economy and jobs market.
The British Beer & Pub Association has released a new report which showed that the pub and brewery trade in Northampton, Daventry and south Northamptonshire accounts for 4,785 jobs, and is worth £128 million a year to the economy.
But the association fears another sharp increase on beer tax could mean more pub closures and a cut in jobs, more than a third of which go to young people aged between 16 and 24.
Richard Matthews, spokesman for the association which commissioned the report by Oxford Economics, said the number of pubs nationally is now falling by about 14 a week, compared to around 40 a week a few years.
He added: “The pub and brewery industry is just starting to pick up a little bit which is why we’re asking the Government to lay off beer tax and give the industry a chance to revive. Increased beer sales will also result in more jobs.
“Working for a pub used to be seen as a dead-end job, but it really offers a genuine career route for young people now. The right person can progress quite quickly.
“In Northamptonshire, where there a large number of villages, pubs play a very important role in the community.”
Northampton MP Brian Binley added: “This industry creates quite a lot of employment, particularly part time employment for students working their way through university or college, allowing them to take their studies.
“It is also the start of a career path for those in the hospitality trade and that is important in the leisure industry.
“I would like to see the Government be kinder to pubs by laying off further taxes.”
Damon Burton, aged 23, a first year English and History student at The University of Northampton, said: “If I didn’t have this part-time job there is no way I could afford to go to university.
“There are no other jobs which are flexible enough to work around my studying. I can understand why taxes need to go up, but not if it is going to have a negative effect on employment and stop people like me from studying.”
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Comments
There are 18 comments to this article
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Real_Talk
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 03:51 PMAgain thanks Lady Muck, but i just wish people in charge can be more realistic to us not jus British Government but all the leaders worldwide because it sounds to me they just give us something to scare us to make excuses to put prices up otherwise if they dont say things like Recession or Debts then me and you we going to question like hang on so where is the money? But when was this money even borrowed and what for was it in GBP, Euros.. do we owe it for products? The money surely recycles in the Economy unless if some fell out somewhere. I am also affraid the worl we are going into that we are made to believe money is everything we are all going to end up fighting for a piece of a paper ..
Afloat
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 03:34 PM@Lady Muck I think you will find that Liam Byrne's note was simply a spoof on the message left by outgoing Conservative chancellor Reginald Maudling in 1964 which said "Good luck, old cock … Sorry to leave it in such a mess".
Afloat
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 03:19 PM@Reverend. To echo your words, "what a load of rubbish". Just how many villages do you know which have a Costa open until 11pm at night, or do you suggest that we all drive into the cloned town shopping precinct and drink massively over-priced (a pint of coffee in Costa is more than double a pint of beer in my local) homogenised processed coffee all day...when most folk with a job are at work? ? How many Costas put on live music, or a quiz, or do a decent priced Sunday lunch? But, above all, what gives you the right to vilify people wanting to keep their jobs? Many hundreds of thousands are clinging on to their jobs by their fingernails.....do you really counsel adding more to the benefits bill just because you prefer Costa?
lady muck
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 10:16 AMreal-Talk...I agree that it seems logical that if UK owes money to Greece and they owe money to Ireland and they owe to UK, we could all just get together over a cup of tea and agree to forget the whole thing. Problem is that this £1 trillion is the balance we owe after we've discounted what is owed to us ! Don't know where you'd actually get proof. I'm fairly sure that there isn't a bit of paper under Osborne's coffee cup that says 'IOU £1 trillion'. but when the Conservatives took power, the outgoing Treasury bloke Liam Byrne left a note on the desk saying 'Sorry...the money's all gone'.
Real_Talk
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 09:48 AMif the money is owed to us surely shouldnt we have a saying on how we should spend or were would like the money to go. Also who are are all these othe countries and people we owe money too.. i need to see evidence.. because how can money be owed to other countries if they are in recession aswell. im fed up of hearing all this debt stuff. Surely the money recycles.. like you work you get paid you buy you work again and that money come back round to you. not forgetting the taxes we pay to pay for all these other stuff roads etc.. i need proof.. thanks Lady Muck but i need more proof.
lady muck
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 07:53 PMThis is brilliant ...I've replied to Real Talk BEFORe he made his comment !!!
Real_Talk
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 02:14 PMhow are you helping the economy by putting prices up on literally everything.... how does that work?? and anyway who are we in debt with?
lady muck
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 02:12 PMReal-Talk..It's the National Debt...now standing at approx £1trillion (that's a one with twelve zeros). It's owed by the government to us the country and anybody else who has lent us money.. Every year we are in trouble because the interest due on all this money is taking a huge first slice out of the country's revenue (ie our taxes). if the duty on alcohols was reduced, tax receipts would fall, although of course, people would drink more and some of the pub staff would remain in work....it's a tricky balance, but Osborne is right...we are BUST..
TheCount
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 01:19 PMCustomers please for tax breaks cand price cuts to be passed on to customers. tax the coffee houses.
vokey
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 12:59 PMMaybe if you publicans sold soft drinks, (flavoured water ) at a respectable price you may get more in, i drink orange juice and lemonade, the price is outrageous considering it doesnt carry the alcohol tax.
chas
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 12:32 PM#4. So the best thing this country has done is to cause the closure of thousands of pubs and clubs, made many publicans bankrupt, made over 150,000 hospitality staff unemployed and devalued the homes living near pubs because of the extra noise and litter?
nptonphil
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 12:17 PMChas, what a load of rubbish, I never used to go to a pub to socialise when people were allowed to smoke in there as I didnt want to end up breathing in peoples cigarette smoke or end up stinking of cigarette smoke, now I can go to the pub and enjoy it knowing I can breathe easily and not end up smelling of smoke
sheila d
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 10:59 AMI have just read an article elsewhere citing George Osborne as saying, this country has run out of money. If more people were going to pubs, he would be collecting more in excise duty and creating more jobs. Putting the tax up will have an adverse effect but the single and cheapest way to keep all pubs flourishing would be to allow those landlords who wished to,allow the smokers back in. At the time of the ban there was an estimated 12 million smokers. Now after almost five years, there is probably an estimated 11.9 million. It has,nt stopped people smoking but has seriously damaged the health of the pub trade and has cost thousands of jobs. We appear to be governed by the health lobby whom neither I nor anyone else voted for. With alcohol concern closely following Tobacco control, I fear there will soon be no pubs left. Time for the Conservatives to get a grip.
SteveRiches
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 10:57 AMChas - smoking is legal and if you want a fag then go ahead and have one, but please don't suggest that when I go to my local pub that I must breathe in your vile smoke! The smoking ban has meant that I can now enter a pub and not get kippered and probably lung cancer and have to wash my clothes when I get home.
Reverend
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 09:05 AMWhat a load of rubbish! They want a reduction in taxes to allow more profit to keep their jobs, not to encourage more people in to socialise. People can socialise with coffee, it doesn't need to to be alcohol. I've yet to see binge drinking at Costa! And can we now stop the lame 'smoking' argument? It's the best thing this country's ever done.
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