Nearly 90 million pints of beer wasted because of pubs being closed

Nearly 90 million pints of beer will go to waste because of UK pubs being closed.

Pubs in the UK are currently shut due to lockdown restrictions caused by COVID-19, and this has meant up to 87 million pints of beer will be poured away down the drain, rather than your gullet.

The insane number has been calculated by the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), which also says the wasted booze equates to £331 million.

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The wasted beer is made up from barrelled beer that's gone past it's sell-by date. When that happens it has to go back to the brewery which provided it and be disposed of. Lagers, most of which are pasteurised, will normally go off three to four months after being delivered to a pub, whereas real ales and other unpasteurised beers last around six to nine weeks.

In Lockdown 1.0, it was estimated 50 million pints would have to be thrown away, but the BBPA reckons the number was actually closer to 70 million, based on feedback from the pub industry.

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Emma McClarkin, the chief executive of BBPA, said: "Pubs and breweries are effectively having to pour their businesses down the drain."

She also said there is "no idea or clarity from government on when we can reopen again."

VAT rate for the hospitality industry is currently at 5 per cent, having been dropped from the usual 20 per cent due to COVID, and McClarkin wants this to remain in place even when pubs reopen.

This news follows information about music venues trialling a 'health passport' system, in order to reopen safely. The health passport has been designed by the You Check app, which originally launched in mid-2019 as a ticket/ID system as a means to circumvent touts, as well as help link promoters directly to their audiences.

[Photo: Trainspotting]

Dave Turner is Mixmag's Commercial Content Editor, follow him on Twitter

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