- Punters can buy two pints of beer in Gloucester for the price of one in London
- The British Beer and Pub Association says the cost of living has impacted prices
- Both parties have addressed cost of beer duty ahead of the election
Heading to the pub for a well-earned pint on a Friday night is becoming an increasingly expensive endeavour, as the cost of beer continues to rise.
The average cost of a pint has surged by 23 per cent in the past year, according to research by comparison website Finder, reaching £5.17.
This is compared to 2023’s average of £4.21.
London, unsurprisingly, is at the top of the expensive pint list, with a beer costing £6.75 on average.
The cost of a pint in London has risen 14 per cent from £5.90 last year.
Regional divide: Gloucester residents pay the least on average for their pints, less than half of the £6.75 paid for the typical pint of beer in London – the most expensive city by far
Luckily, this doesn’t come close to the eye-watering £9.99 average for a pint in Doha, Qatar, where it is only legal to drink in certain licensed venues.
But the average UK pint is almost double the world average of just £2.74 making it the ninth most-expensive nation for a tipple.
Outside of the capital, going to the pub in Oxford will set you back £5.69 per drink, while Belfast and Brighton follow close behind at £5.48 and £5.47 respectively.
Bristol is the fifth most-expensive city at £5.31 per pint.
Of the 46 cities surveyed by Finder, the average price of a pint is £4 or more in 35 of them, including cities such as Derby, Ipswich and Inverness, alongside tourist hotspots like Cambridge, Exeter and Edinburgh.
Liz Edwards, money expert at Finder, said: ‘Several factors influence the price of beer in the UK, not least the rate of duty set by the Chancellor, which looks likely to remain frozen at least over the summer. Other factors include staff costs, rent, energy and water – we’ve seen huge increases in the cost of these.
‘But this year, another major factor is that the UK has had one of the wettest winters on record and spring has also been a washout. Fields have been left waterlogged – too wet to be planted or too wet for tractors to apply fertilisers. If the UK needs to import wheat, barley and oats, then beer prices could well be affected.’
| Location | Cost |
|---|---|
| London | £6.75 |
| Oxford | £5.69 |
| Belfast | £5.48 |
| Brighton and Hove | £5.47 |
| Bristol | £5.31 |
| Exeter | £5.31 |
| Liverpool | £5.18 |
| Edinburgh | £5.17 |
| Cambridge | £4.94 |
| Poole | £4.94 |
| York | £4.85 |
| Manchester | £4.82 |
| Aberystwyth | £4.70 |
| Glasgow | £4.62 |
| Nottingham | £4.60 |
| Birmingham | £4.56 |
| Leicester | £4.54 |
| Milton Keynes | £4.50 |
| Leeds | £4.49 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | £4.49 |
| Portsmouth | £4.49 |
| Norwich | £4.48 |
| Reading | £4.40 |
| Southampton | £4.34 |
| Sheffield | £4.32 |
| Peterborough | £4.26 |
| Bournemouth | £4.25 |
| Cardiff | £4.24 |
| Aberdeen | £4.21 |
| Ipswich | £4.21 |
| Derby | £4.20 |
| Inverness | £4.19 |
| Plymouth | £4.14 |
| Preston | £4.12 |
| Stirling | £4 |
| Swansea | £3.98 |
| Southend-on-Sea | £3.94 |
| Coventry | £3.93 |
| Dundee | £3.84 |
| Stoke-on-Trent | £3.81 |
| Perth | £3.78 |
| Luton | £3.77 |
| Sunderland | £3.75 |
| Northampton | £3.74 |
| Kingston upon Hull | £3.61 |
| Gloucester | £3.35 |
| Source: Finder | |
Labour leader Keir Starmer has hinted that he will retain the beer duty freeze if Labour is elected, stating ‘it is important that we support hospitality and the beer duty is part of the package there’.
Meanwhile the Conservatives have pledged that duty on beer in pubs will remain below duty charged in supermarkets.
While the cost of beer continues to rise, with high costs continuing to drive up retail prices, you can still find a relatively inexpensive pint in some cities around the UK.
Chief among these is Gloucester, where punters can get their hands on a draught beer for just £3.35 on average, less than half of London’s prices and streaking ahead of the second cheapest location, Hull, where a pint will set you back £3.61.
In Northampton, a pint will cost just £3.74, while in Sunderland it costs one penny more at £3.75.
Luton, despite its proximity to London, has the fifth cheapest pint in the UK at £3.77.
Even though pints remain under £4 in these locations, most prices around the country will have risen over the past few years.
In Derby, for example, a pint in 2023 would have cost £3, a figure which has now broken the £4 barrier, rising a massive 40 per cent to £4.20 this year.
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: ‘Pubs really value their loyal customers and have done their utmost to contain and absorb the pressures pushing up the price of a pint over the past two years. But unfortunately, the cost-of-living crisis, spiralling energy costs and wider inflationary pressures have inevitably led to rising prices.
‘To keep the cost of a pint affordable pubs and brewers need fair taxation in the form of a reformed business rates system and a further freeze or, even better, a cut to duty rates, this way everyone can continue to enjoy a refreshing pint at their local.’