I know I normally make football-related comments which are extremely incisive and accurate but just for once I wonder whether anybody would be interested in my petition. I think local pubs are dying out and nothing is being done to save them. I'm not sure whether my petition is the best way of thinking to address the problem and some may disagree with my point in any case, but if you feel inclined then please sign up..... Apologies if it's not highlighted. Please feel free to cut and paste...!!! I’ve made a petition – will you sign it? Click this link to sign the petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/120393/sponsors/lQomuLt9lSE9F9lshKGk My petition: Save our local pubs! Increase the tax on shop-bought alcohol. Reduce it on pubs Local pubs are gradually becoming a thing of the past and the part they play in the local community is also diminishing. The UK pub is an institution in it's own right and no politician to date has addressed it's decline. Cheap beer from supermarkets is threatening our traditions. Save the pub!!
There's more to it than just cheap beer, although I would say that is the major factor. A supermarket can retail beer at less than half the price that your local pub can buy it. The chancellor is losing hundreds of millions in VAT. Buy a case of 20 x 440ml cans of Lager from T***o... at £10..which it has been for a couple of months..VAT £2.00 The same volume bought from a pub at say £2-50 per pint....VAT £7-90 The Treasury are missing a trick...that calculation is only on 15.5 pints...imagine the amount of money available to fund our public services if all the beer was pub sold, plus the added bonus of extra employment/taxes/rates/community cohesion etc etc
Ah, so rather than spending £10 this customer's budget has suddenly increased to £40 out of nowhere. The government should just get down the magic money tree and skip the middle man. Personally I don't give a stuff about pubs closing. They're a business, if they don't have the customer base to support them that's their problem.
They're far more than just a business. In small towns and villages, especially in quite isolated places, they're a social point and hub for the whole community.
Petitions are pointless and very rarely achieve anything. Start and prop the bar up in your local every night, that's the only way you can help it stay open. Money in the til
