The November 2025 alcohol duty rise added 12–18p to the price of a pint. For a rural pub selling 400 pints a week that is an extra £3,500 a year straight off the bottom line. The British Beer and Pub Association predicts 1,200 pub closures in 2026 alone – 70 % of them independent free houses in villages and small towns.
These are not just pubs. They are the last shop, the last meeting place, the last employer in dozens of communities. When a village pub closes, house prices fall 5–8 % and local crime rises (Campaign for Real Ale 2025 report). The Treasury’s own figures show the duty hike will raise just £420 million extra revenue – while costing £1.1 billion in lost business rates, VAT, and payroll tax from closures.
Large pub chains can negotiate bulk discounts and push premium brands. Independent freeholders cannot. 41 % of rural publicans say they will shut within 12 months unless relief comes (BBPA Q4 2025).
The solution is simple and proven:
- 50 % duty relief on all draught beer and cider sold in on-trade premises with a rateable value under £100,000.
- Extend the existing draught relief (currently 9.2 %) to a full 50 % cut – costing the Treasury £380 million a year, fully offset by keeping pubs open and people in work.
This is not special pleading. The same relief already exists in a weaker form and was introduced in 2021 to “protect community pubs”. It worked then; it will work now. Ireland has 60 % lower duty on draught beer sold in pubs. Scotland already has lower spirits duty for small producers. England and Wales are the only nations punishing the very pubs that keep villages alive.
Save our rural pubs before another 1,200 disappear forever.
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