Beer is Britain's top alcoholic drink as 8.5bn sold last year - but experts warn beverage 'staggeringly' overtaxed

8.5 billion pints of beer were sold last year
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Beer has remained Britain’s most popular alcoholic drink as 8.5 billion pints were sold last year – but experts have warned the beverage is “staggeringly” overtaxed.

The amount of beers sold in 2018 compares with 7.4 billion 175 ml glasses of wine, the data showed.

Some 1.2 billion pints of cider were also bought last year, according to the HM Revenue and Customs figures released on Friday.

The data was published in the British Beer & Pub Association's (BBPA) latest handbook, with the industry body saying beer was overtaxed in the UK, with Britons paying a "staggering" 11 times more duty than drinkers in Germany or Spain.

Drinkers pay 54p in beer duty on a five per cent ABV (alcohol by volume) pint.

The BBPA said beer was "vital" to the manufacturing sector, with 82 per cent of the volume brewed in the UK being drunk here, and pubs and brewing combined creating almost 900,000 jobs.

The BBPA is backing a campaign calling on the Chancellor to cut beer tax at the next Budget to support community locals which sell a higher proportion of beer, making them particularly sensitive to beer tax hikes.

BBPA chief executive Brigid Simmonds said: "It is clear from these numbers that beer is the most popular alcoholic drink, but it is without doubt overtaxed.

"Should tax on a pint continue to rise then drinking in the pub will no longer be affordable for many British beer drinkers, meaning pubs will continue to close.

"This is why we are backing the Long Live The Local campaign, calling on the Chancellor to cut beer tax and support local pubs."

The BBPA said 100 new breweries opened in the UK in 2018, taking the total number to 2,530. This is an increase of 2,030 breweries since 2000, the group said.

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