UK Chancellor barred from pubs after hike in beer price

Upset with Chancellor Alistair Darling for raising the price of beer in the budget pub owners have banned him altogether.

Upset with Chancellor Alistair Darling for raising the price of beer in the budget, pub owners in a northwest town England have banned him from entering their outlets.

Members of the Kendal Bar Watch scheme have voted unanimously to keep out Darling, who increased duty on a pint of beer by 4 pence and raised spirits duty by 55 pence a bottle from every pub in the town.

Local residents don’t remember spotting Darling on their streets, but if he does come visiting, he will not be able to walk into a pub for a drink.

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Irate pub owners believe that raising the price of a beer pint amounted to “threatening and anti-social behaviour”.

They are in the process of sending a communication to Darling, informing him of their decision to ban him from their pubs.

Reports from Kendal say that the pub owners will also request him to send a photograph of himself so that security staff will know what he looks like if he comes calling.

Paul Little, of the George and Dragon pub, who is a member of the Kendal Bar Watch scheme, told the BBC: “If he turns up he won’t be welcome, definitely not.

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“The bar watch is a very serious tool that the landlords can use to keep out the undesirables and keep staff safe. But if someone threatens myself, staff or business then we take that seriously and we feel Alistair Darling is threatening business,” Little said, adding “this is not a joke and we take it very seriously.”

The Cumbria Police said landlords were within their rights to ask people to leave their premises and they would attend if requested, “to calm a situation down.”

In April, a pub in Edinburgh reportedly sparked an Internet campaign aimed at banning Darling from every pub in Britain.

A spokesman for the Treasury said: “The rise in duty was to pay for measures that will help lift children out of poverty and reduce fuel poverty. “These are the government’s two key aims – alcohol has become a lot less affordable that it was 10 years ago”.