Another change on alcohol duty
Oct 1, 2023
Nearly everyone, I talk to do not realise that there has been another change on alcohol duty which the government put in place in August, this time, it’s on the volume of the alcoholABV. Everyone in the drink industry have found this new was of calculating Alcohol duty a complete muddle. It has roughly added a 50p increase to a bottle of still wine, spirits, and strong bottled beer. When I was speaking with a customer they mentioned that some alcohol products have come down, which they have if they are under 3.5%ABV. It has been a complete nightmare for all brewers and some for example like Carlsberg have lowered the ABV in their Pilsner lager from 3.8 to 3.4% to lower the duty and reduce the costs.
I can’t get my head around how the government are working there figures out? especially when we are all the time in competition with the cheap prices the supermarkets can charge. We are all struggling in business from the soaring high energy costs and food prices,everyone is being careful with their money including the ones that have money so we have a weakening consumer demand.
Pubs ,bars and restaurants are going through extremely challenging times yet again .
Dorset has such an amazing food and drinks scene which I for one am extremely proud and grateful for being part of for over 30 years.
It’s important that we preserve our wonderful established brands, as well as our small craft beer brewers , cider producers, and our wonderful wineries all right here in Dorset.
People don’t realise that everything we sell over the bar and in the restaurant has 20 %vat on,that we need to pay to the government, only certain luxury food items in the supermarket have VAT added like chocolate, ice cream and savoury snacks so they don’t have the same levels of VAT as businesses like mine do .
During Covid, the government gave us VAT and business rates relief, we got back on our feet but since VAT has gone back to 20% it is a struggle to make it work, we can’t keep absorbing the costs.
Our food and farming has had the most difficult year and the most expensive crops, due to high fertiliser prices in 2022 followed by the wet harvest; nearly 90% of the grain from our 2023 harvest has needed to be dried which has added extra costs. These prices have not been reflected in the supermarkets, prices have continued to fall so many producers are selling at a loss, this cannot continue. There has not been any consideration at all with what has been happening to these industries, there just doesn’t seem to be any understanding of any kind from the people that make decisions for our industries.
A message to all our politicians; get a real understanding of what’s going on in all industries, especially the food chain. If you haven’t got food and water we won’t have anything left of life.
