LOADING 778 PUBS THE GOVERNMENT IS TAXING TO DEATH...
Loading data...
9:41
Avg. Spoons Pint — 778 pubs tracked
£0.00
▼ £1.61 cheaper than national avg · ONS national: £4.83
Spoons Avg
£3.22
Your Local
£4.83
The Gap
£1.61
UK Avg. Pint
ONS National Average · Loading...
£4.83
▲ £0.14 (3.0%)
£6.20 £5.60 £5.00
The Gap
Why your local can't compete
Supermarket
£1.20
500ml can at home
Spoons Avg
£3.22
778 pubs nationwide
Your Local
£4.83
ONS national average

An independent needs £4.00–£4.50 just to break even — 33% of that goes straight to the government. Then in April 2025, they hiked NI, slashed rates relief, and raised the minimum wage. 15,800 pubs have closed since 2000. The government just made it harder to keep the rest open.

Source: BBPA / ONS / Wetherspoons JDW Apps API
Market Movers
See all →
The Brown Bear
Sheffield · Sam Smith's
£2.40
▼ 4.0%
The Globe
Sheffield · John Smith's
£2.55
▼ 3.8%
Sheffield Tap
Sheffield · Craft Cask
£5.20
▲ 6.1%
True North
Sheffield · Craft Brewery
£5.20
▲ 4.2%
Wetherspoons
Woodseats Palace · Lager
£2.97
▼ 2.3%
Your Watchlist
Edit
Sheffield Tap
Platform 1 · Craft Bar
£5.20
+6.1%
The Brown Bear
Norfolk St · Sam Smith's
£2.40
-4.0%
Kelham Island Tavern
Kelham · Cask Ale · CAMRA award
£4.20
+1.2%
Fagans
Broad Lane · Traditional
£4.20
+2.4%
Wetherspoons
Woodseats Palace · Chain
£2.97
-2.3%
Price Alerts
Manage
Brown Bear holds at £2.40
Sam Smith's XXXX Best — cheapest pint in Sheffield. Sam Smith's keep prices low by banning phones.
2m
Sheffield avg up 13.8% since 2023
CAMRA Beer Capital Survey: real ale avg hit £4.13 — up 50p from Feb 2023
18m
Beer duty up 3.66% from Feb 2026
RPI uprating adds ~2p/pint. Government's 1p "draught relief cut" already wiped out.
1h
Regional Index
Full map →
1
London
£6.10
2
South East
£4.94
3
South West
£4.93
4
Scotland
£4.80
5
North West
£4.80
6
Wales
£4.74
7
Midlands
£4.68
8
Sheffield
£4.13
Source: Morning Advertiser Pint Price Survey 2025 · CAMRA Sheffield Beer Capital Survey
Beyond the numbers
Your pint is paying for a crisis the government created.
Every price above has a story behind it. Scroll to read it.
Tax Your Pint
Interactive
What did you pay for your last pint?
£
HM Treasury (duty, VAT, rates) £1.61
Brewery / supplier £1.05
Rent & overheads £1.16
Staff wages £0.86
Your publican keeps £0.12
Government : PublicanFor every £1 the publican keeps
13:1
At 12p profit per pint, your publican needs to sell 344 pints per day to earn minimum wage (£12.21/hr, 60hr weeks).
Why Your Local Needs £4.83
Where every penny goes
This is where every penny of your pint goes. The government takes £1.61 — a third of the glass. The publican who pulled it keeps 12p.
33%
22%
24%
18%
3%
Tax (Duty, VAT, Rates)
£1.61
Brewery / Supplier
£1.05
Rent & Overheads
£1.16
Staff
£0.86
Profit
12p

The government takes £1.61. The publican keeps 12p. That's a 13:1 ratio. The average publican earns £15,000/year — below the minimum wage they're legally required to pay their own staff.

The Receipt
Where it really goes
THE KING'S HEAD
Your Local Since 1847
1x Pint, Bitter £4.83
OF WHICH:
Beer duty £0.35
VAT (20%) £0.81
Business rates £0.45
Brewery / supplier £1.05
Rent & overheads £1.16
Staff wages £0.89
HM TREASURY £1.61
YOUR PUBLICAN £0.12
The government earns more from your pint than the person who poured it. 13x more.
PONR-2025-15800-LOST
Why Spoons Can Do It for Less
The advantage
-50p
Bulk buying power
800+ pubs. Direct brewery deals. 15-25% below what your local pays per barrel.
-40p
Fewer staff per pint
App-based ordering. No table service. Standardised menus — no chefs needed.
-30p
Lower rent per pint
Huge venues in converted banks and cinemas. Volume spreads costs thin.
£0
No music, no sport
No PRS licensing fees. No Sky Sports subscription. Keeps overheads minimal.

An independent needs £4.00+ to survive. Spoons can profit at £2.85. That's not a level playing field — it's a structural advantage that no local can match.

Source: BBPA / BII Benchmarking / Wetherspoons Annual Report 2024
The Government's Cut
April 2025
33p in every £1
goes straight to the Treasury. Then in April 2025, they hiked taxes again.
Business rates relief
75% → 40%
Slashed overnight. £500m cost to hospitality.
Employer NI
13.8% → 15%
Threshold dropped from £9,100 to £5,000.
Total April hit
£3.4bn
Combined tax hike facing hospitality sector.
Operating at a loss
1 in 3
Pubs now unprofitable. Only 1 in 4 hospitality businesses are in the black.
Jobs lost since October 2024 budget
89,000
More than half of all UK job losses in that period came from hospitality.
Pub food VAT
20%
Supermarket food VAT
0%

The government takes £1.61 from every pint. The publican who poured it keeps 12p. Then they wonder why pubs are closing.

Source: BBPA · UKHospitality · ONS · House of Commons Library · HMRC duty rates
The Decline
Since 2000
0
pubs lost since 2000
One pub closing every single day
60,800
Pubs in 2000
45,000
Pubs remain
-26%
In 25 years
-16.6%
Independent pubs since 2020
+4.2%
Managed chains since 2020
The pubs closing are overwhelmingly small, independently owned locals. The chains are growing. The government is watching.
25 years of decline
60k 55k 50k 45k 2008 2013 2020 60,800 45,000 2000 2024
2008 Beer duty escalator (+42% over 5 years)
2013 Escalator scrapped
2020 COVID lockdowns
2025 NI hike + rates relief cut
Source: BBPA · ONS · CGA / AlixPartners Hospitality Market Monitor · CAMRA 2025
What We're Losing
It's not just beer
86%
say their community suffers when a pub closes
60%
concerned about increased loneliness from pub closures
1 in 5
UK pubs are technically insolvent — negative net assets
🏠
Closed pubs become flats, Tesco Express, or boarded-up shells. In many villages, the pub was the last remaining community space.
🇫🇷
It's not just us. France lost 460,000 bistros since 1900. They're now seeking UNESCO heritage status to save what's left.
💷
The pub industry supports 1 million jobs and contributes £34 billion to the UK economy. 51% of the workforce is under 25.
🏛️
The government collected £837m in tax from Wetherspoons alone last year — over £1m per pub. Then cut their rates relief in half.
"I've been consoled in there, I've consoled friends in there. We've chopped up family issues, work issues. We've drunk for the sake of drinking in there."
Source: Loughborough Uni / Campaign to End Loneliness "Open Arms" report · BBPA · France UNESCO bid 2024
Market Analysis
More →
Government
April 2025: NI hiked, rates relief slashed, minimum wage up 6.7%. Total cost to pubs: £3.4 billion. One in three now operating at a loss.
UKHospitality / House of Commons Library
2025
VAT inequality
Pubs pay 20% VAT on food. Supermarkets pay 0%. The government has known about this for years. Nothing has changed.
BBPA / Tim Martin Tax Equality Campaign
2025
Jobs
89,000 hospitality jobs lost since the October 2024 budget. More than half of all UK job losses in that period. 5,600 more projected from 2025 closures.
UKHospitality / BBPA
2025
Crisis
Independent pubs down 16.6% since 2020. Managed chains up 4.2%. The squeeze is structural, not cyclical — and the government just made it worse.
ONS / CGA AlixPartners
2025
Treasury revenue since you opened this page: £0
Spoons Explorer
--- Pubs
--- Avg Pint
--- Cheapest
Source: Wetherspoons JDW Apps API · Live prices