Budget not to be so bad claim

The Sunday Mirror reports today that the Chancellor will order big rises in alcohol duty on Wednesday – but not as big as The SD predicted in an earlier post.
If the Mirror is right, the hapless Alistair Darling will put 1p to 2p on the average £2.40 cost of a pint of beer. Wine will [...]

Budget predictions

A pal close to the Westminster machine confirms that big tax rises on hooch are coming on Budget Day, March 12.
A report is to be released on Tuesday about Booze Britain, meanwhile papers like the Mirror have been briefed to warm up the “Gordon, please, we beg you  for more tax on alcohol” pleas on Wednesday.
My mole says the smart money is on [...]

Phoenix prices

You can read my initial thoughts about the new Phoenix pub here, but one thing I left out was the welcome cheapness of the drinks. All real ales are £1.75, Carling lager £1.95. If only they’d stick with Brains SA and get rid of the dull Bombardier.
Meanwhile, the growing list of local beer and wine [...]

Tramps face tough decision

In yet another cynical, empty gesture, big store off-licences in London have banned the sale of superstrength lagers like Carlsberg Special Brew.
Big Smoke tramps, who are usually unwelcome at stores like Tesco and Waitrose anyway, are now weighing up their options. Should they emulate their American cousins and take up sweet wine, join their Russian [...]

Every little hurts – updated

Tesco has “caved in” to Government pressure and joined the growing chorus of holy joes begging Gordon Brown to increase the price of alcohol.
According to the Guardian, Tesco want New Labour to “bring forward legislative proposals” to increase the price of booze at all supermarkets.
Tesco is a cynical monopoliser. They know that if they unilaterally raised the price of [...]

Preparing the way

The spin war continued today with another onslaught of anti-drinking stories, including the Mirror’s hopeless ‘Can it’ campaign and ‘let’s fight a war against drinking’ nonsense from Brian Reade.
Reade, with whom I have got plastered with on a couple of occasions, should know better. There’s always been young yobs getting hammered on cheap cider, [...]

Prince injured in war against drinking

The neo-prohibitionists and Government spinners have launched a furious onslaught in the war against drinking.
Just when you thought it was safe to open a newspaper, today’s press is filled with binge-drinking scare stories painting a picture of Britian in the grip of drunken orgy of violence that can only be quashed by cannons of new [...]

The great beer depression

Despite the government’s view that everyone in Britain is drinking themselves silly, the tax take from beer is falling.
Figures released by the British Beer & Pub Association show that the policy of consistently increasing taxes on beer is self-defeating as it is eroding Treasury revenues. It argues that further tax increases will only make the [...]

It’s grin up north

Isn’t it great to live in the North.
Horror stories are appearing everywhere about how beer is going up in price.
The price of raw materials are going up, tax is high and and there’s an odds-on chance that Gordon Brown will use the current hysteria about binge drinking to increase taxes further still.
Some have talked about [...]

Oh XXXX!

Does the news that Australian beer prices are set to rocket because of a drought mean that prices in Britain are set to fall because we had a wet summer? Incidently, I like the comment from NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald, who advises all those who care about the farming industry to buy beer over [...]