Long live the local: why model-turned-publican Jodie Kidd is campaigning to reduce beer tax

The fashion model and racing driver turned publican, Jodie Kidd, launched a new campaign on Thursday 19 July to keep the UK’s pubs open, and is urging supporters of the local pub to sign a petition to cut beer taxes.

“Long Live the Local” is backed by the British Beer Alliance and is calling on the Government to cut beer tax in order to preserve the country’s historic pubs. Beer duties in the UK are three times the EU average, and 12 times higher than Germany and Spain.

“It’s a campaign to drive awareness and save British pubs," says Kidd, who saved her own local pub, The Half Moon Kirdford in West Sussex, from extinction. "There’s talk of raising the already astronomical tax on beer even higher, and as a landlady and a pub owner myself, I know it’s a really tough industry. At the moment, 54p on every pint goes straight back to the taxman.”

The latest figures from CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) show that 18 pubs lock their doors for good in the UK each month – that's around three closures every week. 

“Pubs are being hit hard by a triple whammy of one of the highest rates of beer duty across Europe, rapidly rising business rates and VAT,” it states. “A third of the cost of a pub pint is now made up of various taxes.”

Jodie Kidd

These are circumstances that Kidd views as both “heartbreaking” and unsustainable. “The margins are so slim, so higher taxes are a daunting prospect for many pubs, which just won’t survive. The tipping point is right now. We’ve got to act, and we need all the support we can get,” she told The Telegraph.

“I live in a rural village, and the pub is so important for the community. I want to rally the troops and say that we’ll have very few pubs left, and that it’s a real problem.

“I’ve seen too many beautiful village pubs closing, especially in Sussex. It’s heartbreaking. Quiz nights, anniversary dinners, birthday celebrations, hosting the local cricket team – the pub has so much to offer and give back, for special occasions as well as everyday exchanges over a pint, which is important too,” she stresses.

It’s true that the local pub remains a well-loved part of the fabric of life in the UK: nine in ten UK adults (89 per cent) are pub goers, with a third visiting once a week or more, according to a study conducted this month by Fly Research.

Nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of the 2,008 respondents involved in the study said that pubs are a social centre and bring the community together. Over half (54 per cent) said that they were happy to visit the pub alone in order to enjoy a chat with the staff and other locals.

“I live thirty miles from the nearest big town, so it’s where I meet people. To lose that would be a real shame,” says Kidd, who also emphasises the appeal of the pub to tourists and the overall contribution of the industry to the economy.

“The British pub is so quintessentially English - it’s part of our heritage, and people come here especially to experience it. It supports local businesses, including growers of produce or craft breweries, and it provides jobs. There’s a much bigger picture to consider, and that’s what I want to highlight,” she says.

She’s not wrong: according to the British Beer and Pub Association, pubs, brewing and other related industries collectively add £23 billion to the economy, and contribute £13 billion in taxation every year.

Meanwhile, since the smoking ban, numerous pubs have diversified, becoming markedly more family-friendly and inclusive. The three most popular pub activities are quizzes (according to 67 per cent of those surveyed), open mic and karaoke nights (47 per cent), and gigs and comedy nights (42 per cent).

Almost one in five (18 per cent) use their local pub to meet up with social and cultural groups, such as arts and craft sessions, exercise, LGBTQ+ subjects, senior citizens, book clubs and mum and baby groups.