Decreasing beer consumption in UK

First the smoking ban, than the financial crisis and an 18 per cent rise in duty on beer last year, these kayoed the British catering trade.

 Beer sales in pubs fell by 9.9 per cent
in the final quarter of 2008, putting a further big dent in the
Treasury’s duty revenues, according to figures out today.

The decline, revealed in the latest UK
Quarterly Beer Barometer, means that British beer drinkers quaffed
1.4 million fewer pints in pubs, bars and restaurants than during the
last three months of 2007.

Supermarkets and off-licences, which
until recently had remained relatively resilient, also saw a slowdown
as Britain slid into recession, suffering a 6.5 per cent fall in beer
sales.

The figures, from the British Beer &
Pub Association (BBPA), show that overall beer sales through both the
off-trade and the on-trade fell by 8.3 per cent during the quarter,
taking the fall for the year a whole to 5.5 per cent compared with
2007.

Beer sales are sinking and many pubs
are struggling to survive. Pub closures have escalated to nearly six
a day.