LETTER: We must fight to save our pubs
By rejecting any thought of holding a review into the beer tax escalator, they are condemning many more pubs to financial ruin and closure.
In the last six months alone in my region 44 pubs have closed and that is after years of damage to the industry caused by a range of reasons including the continual ramping up of taxes, unfair competition from supermarkets, pubco intransigence and of course the smoking ban.
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Hide AdWithout our pubs, what are we? They are an essential part of our culture and in towns and villages across the country they provide a public service, uniting their local communities.
I wholeheartedly support the work of CAMRA, the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) and the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) and the over 100,000 people (including myself) who signed a petition calling for a review.
I also fully back the CAMRA rally at Parliament on December 12th.
If we do not fight for our pubs, we will lose them, and we will all be the poorer for it.
PAUL NUTTALL
UKIP PUB SPOKESMAN
NORTH-WEST