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The average price of a pint in the UK is rising, figures show, as big regional differences are revealed. Rampant inflation of the past few years has seen lager get more expensive, while the Covid pandemic has led to pub closures across the UK.
Industry figures are now warning that punters could see another spike, with pubs across the country set to raise prices following Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s plan to increase tax on businesses.
Brewer Young’s has said it will soon lift its prices by 3.5 per cent, adding about 20 pence to the price of a London pint and taking it to nearly £6.50. A pint in the rest of the UK will be about 17 pence more. The move follows similar warnings from popular chains Fuller’s and Wetherspoons.
The continued price rises have all resulted in a worrying trend of higher costs and less visits for most pubs. However, depending on where you live you’re likely to get a much cheaper, or more expensive, pint than others.
As might be expected, the most expensive pints can be found in London. The average price of a lager in the capital is reported to be £5.59 – 80p above the national average.
It’s long been the case that pub-goers will struggle to get a beer for less than a fiver in the city, and may even have to pay more. Data from price tracker pint-prices.com shows that some London pubs will charge as much as £8 for a pint of Guinness, despite a national of price of £5.18 for the popular Irish stout.
Here’s a regional breakdown of the price of a pint across the UK:
The figures were revealed by pub trade publication The Morning Advertiser in a survey of its readers. Their figures show a predictable North-South divide, but with a surprising twist.
When it comes to the price of lager, the UK has a mid-country ”belt” where you’ll find a cheaper pint. Across the Midlands and Wales, the average price is £4.74 – cheaper than southern regions, the North West, and Scotland.
The only place you’ll find a cheaper pint is the North East, at £4.56 on average. making lager more than a whole pound cheaper on average than in London.
In recent years, the average price of a pint across the country has risen according to figures from the office for national statistics. Before the Covid pandemic, it was £3.70 but shot up to £4.10 in 2022, when thousands of pubs were able to return to service. It has continued to rise at a rapid rate, now sitting at £4.79, an increase of nearly 30 per cent since before the pandemic.
The pub industry has struggling at the same, as businesses try to recover from the Covid pandemic and cost of living crisis that has followed. In the first quarter of 2024 alone, 239 pubs closed, an average of 80 closures a month.
Despite this, Britain’s beer and pub sector put more than £34.4 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) into the economy in the past year, says the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA). The trade association has called for a reduction in costs placed on pubs to do business.
They are joined by many industry figures who have warned that Labour measures like increasing employers’ national insurance contributions and boosting the minimum wage will lead to price hikes in the near future.
