Q1 Sales Down For Uk Beer Market

According to the UK Quarterly Beer Barometer published by the BBPA, UK beer sales dropped by 8.2% in the first quarter of 2009. This is the highest first-quarter fall since 1997 and comes just days after the Chancellor announced yet another increase in beer duty in his Budget. On-sales were down 6.3% and off by 11%, the first time since 2005 that the first quarter in supermarkets has been lower than the previous year. The BBPA questions the tax policy which is hitting Whitehall revenues hard as the Jan-Feb tax take was £17M down, even after unit tax rises of 18%.