This month's tax raid on beer, our national drink, will have a devastating impact. Chancellor Alistair Darling has hit the many millions of people who enjoy beer where it hurts – with a £50.5m a month raid on their family budgets.

Sales of beer in pubs are at their lowest since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Today's pubs are selling 14 million fewer pints per day than they did when sales were at their peak in 1979.

At the same time, rapidly rising costs of raw materials and energy bills are hitting publicans hard. What makes this tax increase all the more surprising is that by aiming a tax hike at beer, the Chancellor is shooting himself in the foot.

With beer sales plummeting, Treasury revenues will continue to fall, pubs will continue to close and sales will sink even further.

Announcing a tax rise for each of the next four years is also a new departure that will make a bad situation even worse. It is also grossly unfair on the vast majority of sensible drinkers, who are being punished for the sins of a minority of drunken hooligans.

The Government says this move will tackle binge drinkers, but will it? In reality, it will not help at all. Alcohol taxes in the UK are already among the highest in the world. Instead, it will drive people out of the pub into the arms of the deep discounting supermarkets.
It will act as a charter for bootleggers and smugglers, heralding a return to the days of the "booze cruise".

It is also putting the cart before the horse. The tax rise has happened before the Government has completed and published a major report on pricing, promotions and harm in the drink sector.

What has happened to the Government's commitment to policy-making based on the evidence? It seems to have been thrown out of the window in the Budget.

Looking a little deeper at the numbers reveals a grim
picture. It is tempting to believe that the pub trade has faced a bonanza following the introduction of the Licensing Act in 2005 – but looking behind the myth of 24-hour drinking, nothing could be further from the truth.

With sales down and costs up, 1,409 pubs closed in 2006. The current rate of pub closures is even faster, and now stands at 27 a week – nearly four every day. Urban pubs have been hardest hit so far, with two per cent of all urban pubs closing in the last six months.

Pubs without the room to provide an attractive outside area for smokers, and those that are not heavily focused on food sales, have faced particular difficulties.

But it isn't just town pubs that are suffering.

At this rate of closure, many villages across Britain face a future without a pub over the next few years. It's becoming clear that a vital part of the fabric of community life, and part of our nation's heritage, is under threat.

Pubs are, of course, taking action to help weather this storm. Many have revamped their menus and catering.
Pub food has never been better, with over a billion meals now served every year.

Pubs have also invested £100m in outside areas for smokers since the smoking ban was introduced last year – but, of course, not all have the room to do so, and those that can't are really struggling.

Many village pubs are fighting back, with innovative ways of developing their businesses and serving their local community. We now have pubs serving great coffee, pubs that that have taken over the village post office, and pubs installing broadband internet to attract new customers.

Pubs will do what it takes to attract new business. From the Government, all we ask for is a fair deal along with a break from punitive taxes and the threat of ever increasing regulation.

The time has come for a radical change of approach based on a truer picture of our pubs.
Well-run pubs are a vital part of community life in Britain. They are not a source of crime and disorder, nor should they be a "cash cow" for a Government intent upon raising as much tax as possible from what
are often small, well-run family businesses.

Pubs can and must remain the centre of local life, bringing local people together. To lose that would be a tragedy for communities across Britain.


Mark Hastings is director of communications with the British Beer and Pub Association.