Bath brewer Devilfish blames beer duty escalator for closure
A Bath-based brewer has blamed the beer duty escalator for its decision to cease trading.
Devilfish Brewery, which was established in 2011, said in a statement on its website that it would no longer be brewing or supplying pubs.
"But the truth of the matter is that over two years we've made loads of money for the Government and no money for ourselves. And when you are working full time on something, you can get pretty fed up paying down a government defecit you had nothing to do with creating, while not putting food in front of your kids. So thank you Mr Local MP for ignoring our pleas. You'll no longer be getting our beer duty, and we could go and sign on. Who exactly benefits from that situation?
"Which leaves us time to say a quick thanks to the many pubs particularly those mentioned left] who supported us, everyone who drank our beer, and the lovely breweries that helped and gave us advice along the way. Thanks everyone!"
The last beers from Devilfish are still available in some pubs close to the brewery until the end of this month.
Devilfish has also brewed one final beer called F.U.D., in which the ‘D' stands for ‘Darling'.
"Darling could refer to Alistair Darling, the man who introduced the beer duty escalator which killed us, is killing pubs and is causing people to binge drink at home on cheap supermarket booze - exactly the opposite of what it was intended to do.
"We'll let you decide what the 'F' and 'U' stand for," the brewery said on its website.
The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has long been calling for a freeze to beer duty and an end to the escalator, which increases duty by 2% above inflation every year. It claims that such a move would save thousands of jobs, as well as bringing in more revenue for the taxman.
Last year saw more than 100,000 people sign an official e-petition calling for the escalator to be halted, triggering a parliamentary debate in November 2012. But the Economic Secretary has declined to call for a comprehensive review of the controversial tax mechanism.
Economic Secretary fails to respond to scrapping of Beer Duty Escalator >>
Beer duty escalator petition reaches 100,000 signatures >>
BBPA calls for beer duty freeze and end to escalator >>
By Neil Gerrard
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