The UK Beer Apocalypse! By Richard Miller
It is truly the apocalypse. The only thing that has been keeping a man sane, or near sane in these crazy and turbulent times, is having a beer, and we like it arm. Or we did like it. Now inflation is set to kill beer and the local pub where one could get fish and chips and a pork pie, washed down with a warm pint. Food and drink fit for an English king … soon to be gone!
“The cost of a pint of beer must rise to up to £20 (~$23) if British pubs are to stay in business this winter, an industry bigwig has said.
UK pubs will only be able to stay in business if customers are forced to pay up to £20 (~$23) a pint, an industry expert has said, begging the government to “start stepping in and doing something”.
Warnings have already abounded about the threat the current energy crisis poses to UK bars and restaurants, with reports indicating that small businesses across the UK are struggling to even sign new energy contracts due to suppliers fearing that their customers simply will not be able to pay up when the time comes.
Such fears do not seem to be at all unfounded, with Tom Stainer, the Chief Executive of real ale campaign group CAMRA, telling the Daily Star tabloid on Sunday that the only way pubs will be able to pay their energy bills this year is by raising the cost of a pint to between £15 to £20 (~$17 to ~$23).
“We’re seeing pubs where their energy costs are going up by not just a little bit — we’re talking 500 per cent to 600 per cent,” Stainer reportedly told the publication, emphasising that his industry was now in a “real crisis”.
“[H]ow much would 500% be on a £5 pint?” he went on to ask. “[Y]ou’re talking ridiculous amounts of money, 15 or 20 quid for a pint.”
Despite such a price rise being financially needed by the industry however, Stainer went on to say that said increase would have been impossible even before the cost of living crisis, and would be outright rejected by would-be customers.
“What you can say with surety is you can’t possibly pass on these energy increases and you can’t increase the pint by 500 per cent,” he said. “You’d be talking about pounds of pounds added on to the average cost per pint — and we already know because we did a survey this summer that more than 50% of the British public now believe the cost of a pint is already unaffordable.””
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