The cost of a pint soars by almost £1 a YEAR… what the average beer now costs across the country

Going to the pub for a well-deserved pint on a Friday night is becoming an increasingly expensive endeavor as the price of beer continues to rise.

The average cost of a pint has risen 23 per cent in the past year, according to research by comparison website Finder, reaching £5.17.

This compares to the 2023 average of £4.21.

London, unsurprisingly, tops the list for expensive pints, with a beer costing £6.75 on average.

The cost of a pint in London has risen 14 per cent from £5.90 last year.

Fortunately, this is nowhere near the exorbitant average of £9.99 for a pint in Doha, Qatar, where drinking is only legal in certain licensed venues.

But the average pint in the UK is almost double the global average of just £2.74, making it the ninth most expensive country for a drink.

Outside the capital, going to a pub in Oxford will set you back £5.69 per drink, with Belfast and Brighton close behind at £5.48 and £5.47 respectively.

Bristol is the fifth most expensive city at £5.31 per litre.

Of the 46 cities surveyed by Finder, the average price of a pint is £4 or more in 35 of them, including cities such as Derby, Ipswich and Inverness, along with tourist hotspots such as Cambridge, Exeter and Edinburgh.

Liz Edwards, money expert at Finder, said: “A number of factors influence the price of beer in the UK, including the rate of duty set by the Chancellor, which is likely to remain frozen at least through the summer.” Other factors include personnel, rent, energy and water costs; we have seen huge increases in the cost of these.

“But this year, another important factor is that the UK has had one of the wettest winters on record and the spring has also been a failure. Fields have been left waterlogged: too wet to plant or too wet for tractors to apply fertilizer. “If the UK needs to import wheat, barley and oats, beer prices could be affected.”

Labor leader Keir Starmer has hinted he will maintain the freeze on beer duty if Labor is elected, saying “it’s important we support hospitality and beer duty is part of the package there.”

Meanwhile, the Conservatives have promised that taxes on beer in pubs will be lower than taxes on beer in supermarkets.

While the cost of beer continues to rise, and high costs continue to drive up retail prices, a relatively cheap pint can still be found in some UK cities.

Chief among them is Gloucester, where punters can get a draft beer for just £3.35 on average, less than half London prices and well ahead of the second cheapest place, Hull, where a pint costs £3.61.

In Northampton, a pint will cost just £3.74, while in Sunderland it costs a penny more at £3.75.

Luton, despite its proximity to London, has the fifth cheapest pint in the UK at £3.77.

Although pints are still under £4 in these places, most prices across the country will have risen in recent years.

In Derby, for example, a pint in 2023 would have cost £3, a figure that has now broken the £4 barrier, rising by a whopping 40 per cent to £4.20 this year.

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: ‘Pubs really value their loyal customers and have done everything they can to contain and absorb the pressures that have driven up the price of a pint over the last two years. But sadly, the cost of living crisis, skyrocketing energy costs and broader inflationary pressures have inevitably led to rising prices.

“To keep the cost of a pint affordable, pubs and breweries need fair taxation in the form of a reformed business rates system and a new freeze or, better still, a cut in tariff rates, so that everyone can continue enjoying a refreshing pint at your local.’