by Trevor Sturgess

Brewery boss Jonathan Neame has warned that the rate of pub closures will accelerate after yet another beer duty hike.

Mr Neame, chief executive of Faversham-based Shepherd Neame, was furious with the Budget decision which could push up the cost of a pint by 5p.

Beer duty had risen by 25 per cent since March 2008, he said, and prices had already gone up because of the restoration of the 17.5 per cent VAT rate from January 1.

Total UK pub sales had dropped by more than 20 per cent and he added: "For many pubs, you’ve got a double whammy of the significant drop in consumption and the significant increase in price, but none of that benefit of price is going to the retailer, all the benefit is going to the Treasury."

Mr Neame accused Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling of "economic illiteracy" that was motivated by a "neo-prohibitionist" agenda. It would cost jobs and lead to lower revenue for the Government.

By 2015, the UK would have the most regulated, highest-taxed, eating and drinking-out sector in the world, he claimed .

"That can only have one conclusion - a material acceleration in pub closures and job losses in the sector."

"I thought what they wanted was a bigger manufacturing sector so we were less reliant on financial services. I thought what they wanted was rural private sector jobs so they were less reliant on the public sector. I thought what they wanted was people in employment and not relying on the state.

"My daughter of eight understands that, why can’t the Chancellor? It is so frustrating, so wrong and so stupid that the only motivation must be prejudice stimulated by a neo-phohibitionist health agenda. There is no economic logic to it at all."

Mr Neame has previously claimed that a tobacco-style war is being waged on alcohol, based on concerns over town centre binge drinking and medical warnings that alcohol consumption damages health.

But he says that his pubs serve responsible drinkers in friendly social conditions, a far cry from the binge drinking image of drunken youths rampaging through urban streets.

He vowed to fight on for what most people believed was "common sense" and a fair deal for responsible eating and drinking.

Shepherd Neame was a strong and successful company but other companies had gone out of business, most notably the off-licence chain Threshers. Sheps would be redoubling its efforts to maintain its strong position despite the Government’s "wrong" taxation policies.

Mr Neame added: "Are we going to look back in 10 - 15 years time and say that in a period of three years Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling wiped out a vast section of the British pub stock which is the envy of the world? That is the question the general public should be asking.

"When will they recognize what a crucial and important role pubs play in every sector of life, including tourism."