Bath has lost a total of 9 pubs since 2005 (and this does not include the potential loss of our Englishcoombe Inn), and nationally a record 2,000 pubs have called time on their business since the 2008 budget announcement that beer duty would rise once more.

Bath MP Don Foster, also the Lib Dem spokesperson for Culture, Media & Sport, says that current government policy is seriously damaging the future for the local pub.

He said, “Understandably the government wants to take action to tackle binge drinking, but by raising beer duty they are hurting the local pub and the social drinker.

“The local pub is an important part of a local community and we are at risk of losing many more if the government continues in this manner. We are punishing responsible social drinkers, when we should be hitting those who binge drink.

Cheap supermarket deals are seeing many getting ‘tanked up’ before going out into town, but rises on beer duty do nothing to tackle this. Supermarkets continue to sell alcohol as a loss-leader, but it is the local pub suffering as a result as government action is hurting them.