According to GMB, which says it compiled the figures from HMRC data, the volume of on-trade beer sold in the UK in the year to September 2010 was down by 7.6 per cent on the figure for the year to September 2009.
By contrast, the union said off-trade saw 0.54 per cent fall over the same period, and overall beer sales released for UK consumption in the year to September 2010 were down by 4.4 per cent.
GMB claimed that the dip in sales was caused by pubcos inflating the rents of their tied pub tenants.
Hayley Brennan, GMB organiser for tied pub tenants, said: “Overcharging for wet and dry rents by the pubcos is rapidly killing the pub trade with sales in pubs down 37.8 per cent on 2002 levels. Customers are simply refusing to pay the additional pound per drink to pay these inflated rents.”
“Tenants are desperate and many fear that their pubs will not survive the rate of VAT increasing to 20% in January unless there is action by the Government to end the market abuse by pubcos.”
Recovery
Meanwhile the union reported that total alcohol volumes in the year to September 2010 are up by 2.1 per cent on the figures for the year to November 2009, which it says was the lowest point in the recession for the industry.
Wine sales in the year to September 2010 are up 2 per cent on the previous year’s annual figures and cider up by 4.4 per cent over the same period, while spirits saw a dip in of 1.7 per cent in the year to September 2010, compared to the year to August 2009, GMB said.
GMB described the overall figures as evidence of an “unsteady and uneven recovery” in alcohol sales, but warned that pubs are not seeing the benefits.
“Recovery from the recession is slow and has not yet been seen in most tied pubs,” said Brennan.