British pub week highlighted

Paul Nuttall MEP with landlady Ellie Furzeman of the The White Lion, Wigan.

The need for the Government to intervene to save the pub industry has been stressed by local MEP Paul Nuttall.

On a fact finding visit around the North West to highlight British Pub Week, Mr Nuttall, Euro-MP for UKIP, visited various pubs including popping into The White Lion, Wrightington and chatting to Ellie Furzeman, the licensee’s wife.

“It was good to see that this particular establishment has a loyal crowd of regulars and it clearly plays an important role in the local community,” said Mr Nuttall.

“But so many other pubs are struggling and many have closed and gone forever. Pubs have traditionally been at the heart of communities and it is a tragedy when they are lost.

“UKIP is the only major political party fighting to try to halt the decline and British Pub Week, which runs from October 27 – November 6, is helping highlight the need for urgent action to be taken,” he said.

“There is no simple answer but it is certainly time to re-think the smoking ban which has taken 20% off pub takings.

“Across Northern Europe common sense is prevailing and pubs and restaurants are now allowed to provide a separate smoking room. This is exactly what should be happening here, it would make such a difference,” said Mr Nuttall.

“I also think the campaign to take VAT down to 5% in pubs would actually help government revenue, not hurt it because closed pubs pay no tax at all.

“And there is no doubt that supermarkets have played a role in the demise of pubs. We want the government to get supermarkets round the table and ask them to play fairly,” he said.

The Anchor in Redbridge closes down after 300 years

IT once stood at the gateway into Southampton at a bridge which served as the main crossing over the River Test.

But more than 300 years later a historic Southampton pub last night closed its doors.

The Anchor Hotel, in Test Lane, Redbridge, has become the latest to feel the pinch among the licensed trade in the county.

Landlord Julian Whelan said the pub did not fit with his other businesses and it was cheaper to close it and pay the rent rather than pay the running costs because the pub was currently operating at a loss.

He said takings had halved since April, but that he believed the business could work under a more hands-on manager.

Mr Whelan added he would continue to pay the rent for the three years he has left on the lease, in the hope that someone will come in to take it on, but that he did not know the owner’s plans.

“The pub is closing with my involvement.

As soon as the brewery can find someone else to come in and take it over it will re-open,” said Mr Whelan.

“I’m gutted for everyone, but there comes a point where you have to say enough is enough.”

Five staff have been made redundant.

Source: Daily Echo

Pubs chains’ last chance to cut landlord’s beer ties

Pint of beer costs 30p more in London than the north

The price of beer in the North West averages £2.87 compared with £3.15 in London and the South East, the Good Pub Guide has found.

A pint averages £2.88 in the West Midlands, £2.95 in the South West, £2.99 in the East Midlands, £3.04 in the East of England and costs the same as the North West in the North East and Yorkshire.

Pubs brewing their own ale charge under £2.50 a pint, with scarcely any increase over the past year, said the guide, compared with a 7% rise elsewhere.

The annual guide also discovered that the most popular pub food was steak and ale pie, closely followed by fish and chips, often “beer-battered”.

Lasagne scored zero in a list of top food choices, with curry, sausage and mash and ham and egg also slipping well down the popularity stakes.

Decent coffee was said to be available in nearly all good pubs, although the guide said it was a “shame” that almost half of pubs in the UK did not open until noon.

The guide also questioned why few town and city pubs had the character and charm found in country inns, describing them as “pleasant enough”, with “okay” levels of service, while furnishings came from a vast warehouse hidden away in an anonymous “off-motorway wasteland”.

Fiona Stapley, editor of the Good Pub Guide, said: “Today’s number one food choice for pub-goers is steak in ale pie, in all it glorious variations: steak in ale-Guinness-stout-red wine, with mushrooms, stilton, kidneys, oysters.

“Other pies follow, like all types of fish, chicken, pork, lamb, rabbit, shepherd’s, venison, wild boar, duckling, goose. And they love suet puddings too.”

Paul Nuttall, UKIP’s deputy leader, said: “However, the Government could do more to make the pint of a pub-goer cheaper by not increasing excise duty by 2% above the rate of inflation every year. Such a move is destroying Britain’s pub trade and stunting growth.”

Source: Daily Mirror

Stubbed out: Cigarette vending machines in pubs outlawed

Cigarette vending machines have been banished from pubs as a new rule came into force at the weekend to stop underage smoking.

From Saturday it will become illegal to sell tobacco in public areas of pubs, clubs and restaurants with those who break the rules facing £2,500 fines.

Although vending machines account for less than one per cent of sales, 11 to 15 year olds are more likely to buy tobacco from them than the population as a whole.

The British Heart Foundation estimates that more than 46,000 children in that age group buy from them.

Sinclair Collis, which is based in Wolverhampton and owns 20,000 machines, fought to prevent the ban saying the move would wipe out a £400million industry and cost 550 jobs.

The company argued that the Department of Health action went against EU free trade rules and the company’s right to use its property.

The DoH brought the rule in to prevent young people from getting hold of cigarettes and deter others from smoking.

It said that the government had failed to look at other options such as the use of technology to enforce age restrictions.

Pubs will still be able to sell cigarettes but they will have to buy them from over the counter so that the seller can verify the buyer is over 18.

The ban on vending machines was approved in 2009 with health campaigners saying it was a ‘brave move’ by the government.

Former Labour minister Ian McCartney proposed the ban saying they were an ‘outrageous loophole in our country’s safeguards’ against tobacco.

The then health minister, Gillian Merron, said she hoped the ban would deter young people from picking up the habit.

She said: ‘The tobacco industry constantly recruits young people to replace those who give up smoking or die each year.

‘We are of course aware of how the current economic climate is affecting small business which is why we will not commence the effect of this legislation until 2011 for larger stores and 2013 for smaller shops.

Peter Hollins, chief executive of the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘Consigning vending machines to the scrapheap will cut off an easy supply of cigarettes to children.

‘This policy must be carried out across the UK as soon as possible.’

Source: Daily Mail

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