Jeremy Clarkson has launched into a blistering rant over Chancellor Rachel Reeves economic measures taking a “machine gun” to British pubs.
The 64-year-old writer and broadcaster shared his fury as he revealed he was being forced to raise prices at his Oxfordshire pub, The Farmer’s Dog.
Clarkson despaired that Britain’s pub industry has been “on its knees for years” with as many as 54 boozers closing each month.
Writing in his column for The Sun, the former Top Gear presenter admitted he now understood why as he struggles to keep his own establishment afloat.
Clarkson slammed the Chancellor for taking a “machine gun” to British pubs
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Despite The Farmer’s Dog being “permanently packed” with “hundreds” of punters, inside and in the garden, Clarkson fumed he is losing “lumps of money”.
The 64-year-old claimed the culprit behind his pub’s grim economic prospects was the “strange and terrible government” and the Chancellor in particular.
“The awful Rachel Reeves is hitting farmers and business people over the head with a hammer. But she’s using a machine gun on publicans,” he fumed.
He argued changes to the National Minimum Wage would mean: “Publicans are basically being fined for taking someone off the dole and giving them a job.
Clarkson admitted he would be forced to put up prices at his pub
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As part of a raft of changes due to be introduced next month, firms will face 77p an hour to £12.21 in the National Minimum Wage.
The Farmer’s Dog itself is now faced with an increased wage bill increased £4,800.
As a result, the Clarkson admitted he has been forced to hike prices at his own pub.
His Sunday carvery deal, which last year he offered for £20, was “simply not doable anymore.” Similarly, he added he would be forced to follow the upward trend of pint prices - now fast approaching £5 on average nationally.
Clarkson warned his prices would soon “have to go up again” to cover the costs.
The chancellor has faced criticism for further hurting the embattled pub sector
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As well as the wage bill, the 64-year-old also pointed a finger at “stratospheric costs of energy” and “stupid eco taxes on the beer”
Clarkson, whose Hawkstone brewery now pays 7p to recycle every bottle it sells, raged that the tax revenues will ultimately be “paid to the council to do what it’s supposed to be doing anyway. But doesn’t.”
His anger has been reflected by others in Britain's pub industry.
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, said: "The cumulative impact of these taxes and regulations is now plain to see and it is highly unfortunate that the only way many pubs can remain viable is to pass on the array of upcoming costs to consumers."
The net cost of these changes across the beer and pub sector is approximately £650million.
