On the back of recent news that Starbucks have paid a paltry £8m in corporation tax in 14 years, and absolutely nothing in the past 3 years on turnovers of in excess of £3bn a Twitter campaign to boycott Starbucks coffee shops has gone global. Castle Rock Brewery in Nottingham is offering disillusioned Starbucks customers a way out!

Colin Wilde MD of Castle Rock Brewery says, “Many people are confused and angered by Starbucks poor demonstration of business ethics towards taxation and I believe a line in the sand should be drawn.”

Mr Wilde contrasts Castle Rock Brewery to Starbucks, “Castle Rock Brewery is a modest regional brewer paying £1.2m a year in beer duty, a duty that has resulted in thousands of pub closures and job losses. The pub trade is relatively speaking one of the most heavily taxed industries in the UK. High beer duty, VAT, business rates and corporation tax make up just some of the heavy calls on the British pub industry; it doesn’t seem fair that a giant business like Starbucks is behaving in this way, nor that it is even allowed to.”

When ordinary people are also paying large sums of tax out of weekly pay packets and with thousands of pubs being forced to close over the last 10 years, it is no wonder that tax payers and the pub industry are furious at the way Starbucks have gained such an advantage.

Castle Rock Brewery was quick out of the blocks to offer a solution and immediately implemented a vote with your feet option. Wilde says, “From this morning many of our pubs will be offering deals to attract the disaffected coffee consumer, including free coffee top ups, buy one coffee get one free and even half priced cakes and biscuits offers.”

Wilde adds, “Of course we are trying to attract business to our own pubs, but there are much more important issues at stake here and the whole pub industry should be tackling these issues head on. A warm, friendly and welcoming tax paying pub is the ideal surrounding to enjoy a cup of coffee, meet up with friends, have a business meeting or simply enjoy some me time! The trade needs to show want Starbucks customers are missing out on.”