Beer sales down - "across the board"

[Patrick]

"Beer sales fell 8.2% in the first three months of this year compared with the first quarter of 2008, figures show.

The British Beer & Pub Association said the reduction represented the highest first quarter sales fall since 1997.

The BBPA said that on average 1.7 million fewer pints were drunk every day from January to March than during the similar period last year. "

"Supermarket and off-licence sales fell the most at 11%, while pubs, bars and restaurants recorded a 6.3% drop.

Compared with 10 years ago, 326 million fewer pints were sold across the country in the first quarter of this year, the BBPA said"

The Government as a result have lost quite a bit of extra tax revenue here - I wonder what's likely to get taxed in the future in order to top the levels up (aside from those rises in the budget that is.)

The rate of pub closures will surely be plummeting over a cliff soon!

[jennifer]

The number of boarded up pubs in my area is quite staggering. There's a market town nearby, Guisborough, which had quite a few pubs dotted along its High Street but roughly half of them are shut now and some have gone back to closing at 3pm and re-opening at 7pm- 11.30pm.