Society of Independent Brewers react to scrapping of Alcohol Duty Freeze in emergency statement
“Today’s emergency statement by the Chancellor undoes many of the positive measures announced in the mini budget only a few weeks ago, including a welcome freeze in alcohol duty from February next year. Small independent brewers will now have to wait a further few weeks to understand what this means for them, as the shakeup of the overarching alcohol duty system is still expected to go ahead. Again this is creating more uncertainty for small brewers who are facing an extremely challenging trading environment dominated by energy spikes, price increases and a cost of living crisis.
The Treasury also intends to conduct a review of energy support from next April including incentivising energy efficiency. Small brewers previously called for support through grants to move to Net Zero and improve their energy efficiency through new technology and we hope that the Chancellor will consider this as part of his review.” Roy Allkin, SIBA National Chairman
