Our chief executive, Kevin Georgel, reacts to March's budget announcement

Kevin Georgel, Chief Executive, St Austell Brewery said:

“As a brewery, we welcome the Chancellor’s decision to extend the freeze to beer duty in today’s budget, but this will not see costs cut for our sector.

“The UK still has one of the highest levels of beer duty in Europe - 12 times higher than Germany. We would therefore like to see the government set out a roadmap to bring current duty down to the European average.

“Great British pubs are at the heart of their communities, but they remain over-taxed and under increasing pressure due to the impact of inflation, the cost of living, reduced footfall, and high operating costs. This was not addressed in today’s budget. We therefore urgently need the long-term reformation of business rates, a VAT cut, and more meaningful government support to reduce the tax burdens on our sector - one of the UK’s leading employers and social and economic contributors.”