Survey finds 28p beer price gap

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5 October 2011 Last updated at 23:08 GMT Even the cheapest pint of bitter in London costs more than ￡3, the survey says The cheapest pint of beer is 28p cheaper in pubs in the north of England compared with south-eastern hostelries, a survey suggests.

Some 650 pubs were asked for the cost of their cheapest pint of bitter by researchers for the Good Pub Guide.

They found that this pint cost ￡3.15 on average in the south-east of England and London, but ￡2.87 in Yorkshire and the North.

Campaigners say that overheads faced by pubs could explain the difference.

Rates and rents were often higher for London publicans and that could be reflected in the cost of a drink, said Tony Jerome, spokesman for the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra).

Brewers

The 30th edition of the Good Pub Guide, published on Thursday, found that prices had risen by 7% over the last year - and that the north-south price divide had been in evidence for some time.

However, it suggested that pubs brewing their own ale were often charging less than ￡2.50 a pint, with scarcely any increase over the last year. A recent Camra survey claimed West Yorkshire had more breweries producing more types of beer than any other county in the UK.

Figures from the British Beer and Pub Association's Statistical Handbook claimed that the price differential for a pint in London and in the North East in 2010 was even greater - at 84p.

One brewer warned that the price of a pint could continue to rise

Paul Maloney, national officer of the GMB union, said: "Since the Good Pub Guide was first published, the Beer Orders were introduced in 1989. The aim was to foster competition to increase consumer choice and bring down prices.

"The opposite of this aim has been achieved. The average price for a pint of lager in Britain has risen by 80p higher than justified by inflation and changes in taxes in pubs, as property companies replaced brewers as owners."

Rising costs

Brewer Shepherd Neame said on Wednesday that beer prices would continue to rise in the coming months.

The brewer, which produces real ales such as Spitfire and Bishops Finger, said cereals such as barley were up to 30% more expensive than a year ago, while the price of glass has also increased, pushing up the cost of beer bottles and pint jars.

However, changes to the tax system have made some drinks cheaper.

Since 1 October, all beers with an alcohol content of 2.8% abv and below are being taxed less, to the equivalent of around 35p on every pint when compared with a typical 4.2% cent beer.

The Good Pub Guide also suggested that steak-in-ale pie was the most popular pub food.

Editor Fiona Stapley said that many pubs were diversifying, such as offering breakfasts and coffee mornings, to get through tough economic conditions.

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7 October 2011 Last updated at 01:47 GMT Help

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Centrica, and the great British Gas price hike | Terry Macalister

Centrica has reported profits of ￡ 1. 3bn in the first half of this year. Photography: Anthony Devlin/PA

The main group of British Gas, Centrica, has reported profits of ￡ 1. 3bn in the first half of this year. That is 19% lower than at the same time last year, but certainly enough to avoid having to walk home tickets at British Gas?

Last week, the largest supplier of gas and electricity in the country announced plans to raise the prices of electricity and gas to domestic customers in 18% and 16% respectively.

Centrica said that British Gas price increases are needed because that part of the company: technically called British residential Gas Source: suffered a 54% drop in first half profits, 270 million pounds. Without an increase in the cost to the owners supply British gas would be governed for close to a loss in the second half of the year.

The company also maintains that he made margins of between 6% and 7% of British residential Gas supply in the first half of the year and this will only continue to now has in place price increases.

Last year, margins were 8% and in 2009 were 9%.

It depends on which calls. It is not as high as BT and Vodafone, argues British Gas, but then supermarkets seem to earn much less. Many say exact same for equal comparisons is difficult. No doubt the cuts in benefits comes partly as a result of having increased costs wholesale. But, once again, British Gas seems slow to lower domestic tickets when falling prices wholesale.

More than half of the gas wholesale from being acquired by British Gas in fact come from Central, but the rest has to be bought on the open market. Centrica is winning "upstream", but argues that it would be against the rules of competition to subsidize a portion of the business with another, though it is not as clear as it seems. Centrica also says the. 3bn ￡ 1 coincides exactly with the amount being invested this year in the construction of its long-term supply chain: has recently also signed a ￡ 2,000 natural gas liquefied with Qatar.

It is good business to invest in the future, and certainly the North Sea oil and gas depletion leaves United Kingdom who need to find supplies in the long term from elsewhere. But Central was able to obtain money from investment banks or other sources, is why residential customers should fund the "ascending" part of the company?

Yes, but the new competition is struggling to get into a market dominated by British Gas and the other big six energy suppliers that appear to be using its customer base of former monopoly as cannon fodder. Most customers do not bother to a rival suppliers and stay at very expensive prices. It is not unusual for companies to offer the most expensive fare and offer a cheaper (online) at the same time. The accounts are too complicated and the regulator should introduce a one-size-fits-all comparator - as credit card companies have to do with a reference APR: to ensure greater transparency.

This is a real problem that will only worsen, and should be resolved through the improvement of energy efficiency in homes. This should not be to British Gas and others, given his main interest is the sale of more power.

British Gas and its rivals must be regulated more closely, but not be blamed entirely for the global depletion in reserves of fossil fuels and the need for a low carbon emissions economy. Energy bills are going to be with us for a long time, unless the Government begins to spend more on windfarms as warplanes.

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