Why pint prices have jumped by almost a quarter since last World Cup

Football fans will flock to pubs to watch the World Cup next month but the price of a pint has risen sharply since the competition was last held.

The tournament kicks off on Thursday, with hosts Mexico taking on South Africa, while Scotland and England begin their campaigns on Sunday and next Wednesday respectively.

It is estimated that around 55 million more pints could flow across the UK if Harry Kane’s team reaches the final in New Jersey on July 19.

For every pub across the country, this could mean the average venue selling an extra 1,240 pints, or 14 extra kegs, over the course of the tournament.

But each of those pints will cost customers almost a quarter more than at the 2022 tournament. According to the Office for National Statistics, the average price of a pint of draft beer in the UK in 2022 was £4.03.

According to the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), the average price is now £5.01 nationally, up 24.3 per cent since the Qatar tournament in 2022. Many punters are also seeing much higher prices for a pint, especially in London.

Independent Speaking to scores of bar owners and proprietors in recent months, he said the conditions under which they had to operate were now tougher than ever, leaving them with no option but to raise prices.

According to the Campaign for Real Beer (CAMRA), 593 pub businesses have closed across the UK this year due to difficult financial conditions.

James Nye, managing director of Anglian Country Inns, which runs 10 pubs in Hertfordshire and Norfolk, said: Independent last year He said rising energy prices and taxes, such as national insurance premiums and business rates relief, meant the sector had been “tossed out of the frying pan and into the fire on more than one occasion”.

Mr. Nye said: “You have to pass on the cost. We haven’t passed it all on, but you have to pass some of it on and things get a lot more expensive.”

“When customers see us increasing prices, they think we are benefiting from this, but in fact the government is taxing so much on this pint that it is not achieving this result.

“Even as the top income increases, the bottom line decreases; I think that’s the scary thing. The biggest part of all this is taxes.”

The BBPA says pubs make a profit of just 12p on a £5.01 pint, with £1.60 being taxed through business rates, duties and other taxes, while £3.29 goes to cover other costs. That’s why they’re calling on the government to offer tax relief to pubs.

The organization says fans in England will pay beer duty of 54p per pint when drinking in England, the highest among Group L rivals in the tournament.

Ghana’s beer tax rate is stated to be 44 pence per pint, above Panama and Croatia’s at 13.8 pence and 12.6 pence per pint respectively.

While the World Cup boost could save pubs £275 million, according to the BBPA, Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the BBPA, said “the government could give our pubs and brewers more support by reducing beer duty to the European average, so we can keep a pint affordable for everyone.”

CAMRA is also calling for the tax burden on pubs and bars to be reduced.

Its chairman, Ash Corbett-Collins, said unless alcohol duty, employer National Insurance contributions and VAT were cut, as well as a different business tariff system, “we risk losing these vital community social centers forever”.

“Running a pub business in the current financial climate is extremely difficult,” he added. “While pint prices are rising, at the same time consumers are tightening their pockets due to the cost of living crisis.

“But brewers and pubkeepers cannot be blamed. Between rising alcohol taxes, hugely unfair business rates and rising employer national insurance contributions on top of sky-high energy bills, financial pressures have left pubs with no choice but to increase pint prices or close their doors altogether.”

If any of the host countries advance to the knockout stages of this summer’s men’s football tournament, bars will be allowed to stay open until 2am.

Sir Keir Starmer said on Monday that bureaucracy “should not stand in the way of fans enjoying the game with their friends and local pubs also making a big swap”.

“Having a pint on the pavement in the sunshine to discuss the pain of fines and soak up the atmosphere is what pubs are about and we support them,” he said.

“Let’s hope we have a summer full of fans enjoying England’s great wins on the big screen in pub gardens.”

Independent He applied to the Treasury for opinion.