£20 pint price warning amid soaring costs

The chief executive of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has said that the price of a pint would need to increase to around £15-£20 to support pubs to cover soaring costs.

"Beer and pub businesses are facing increases in energy bills of around 500% - but they simply cannot increase their prices by the same amount or we would end up with a £15 or £20 pint at the bar," said Tom Stainer.

"Clearly this would be completely unrealistic. This situation shows the need for the new Prime Minister to urgently intervene and introduce an energy price cap for hospitality businesses.

"It would be a travesty if the UK's world-famous pubs and breweries which survived the pandemic were forced to close for good due to a lack of help from the Government to cope with the energy bills crisis.

The organisation is urging its 160,000 members to contact their MPs to demand support for an urgent energy bills support package.

A Cumbrian pub told The Caterer last week that it planned to cut down on using radiators and "keep candles burning" this winter due to a rise in energy costs.

A survey by the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) found 90% of respondents who had been quoted for new energy contracts had seen their prices at least double, while two in three were seeing price rises of over 300%.

Business leaders from across the brewing and pub industry have written to the government warning small businesses will close and jobs will be lost if immediate action isn't taken on rising energy bills.

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