Assignment 2, Article 1 - 'Mr. Darling you're barred!'

Landlords across Lincolnshire and the UK are calling time on Alistair Darling’s first budget.

To show their anger towards what Mr. Darling has proposed, a Facebook group was created in March this year called, ‘Mr. Darling, you’re barred.’ Since its conception, it has flourished and now has over 3,000 members of landlords and punters alike.

The creator of the group, Gareth Young said:
“I set the group up to give publicity to a campaign that was already happening in the blogosphere to try and introduce it to more people through the extrememly popular social networking site, Facebook.”

Mr Young is not a publican, or involved with the pub trade, but says that he does love traditional pubs and real ale, and he “hates to see what the Government is doing to them.”

He also hopes that it will result in embarrassment for the Government and make them reflect on whether the policy of tax hikes is fair or justified.

To visit the Facebook group click here.

Across Lincolnshire, pubs are showing support for this campaign with new members from the region signing up to the group on a regular basis.

Gordon Burt, manager of The Louth Hotel in Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire signed up to the petition because:
“We feel that the government are trying to discriminate against publicans because we can’t compete with supermarkets because of the constantly increasing taxes put on our trade.”

Emma Chapman, the Landlady at the Jolly Brewer in Lincoln said:
“We signed up to the facebook group because it is a great way for us licensee’s to voice our views.”

Dom McGowan, the manager of The Library Bar, which is Lincoln university’s Student Union said that:
“We publicans have got to stick together because the future looks so bleak.”

The under-fire budget included a plan to raise taxes on all alcohol. Beer faces an increase of four pence per pint. Mr. Darling also plans to introduce annual increases of 2% above inflation year on year for the next four years.

To view the budget in full click here.

Josh Boyd, manager of Kai’s Bar in Louth, Lincolnshire explains that what Mr. .Darling is saying is not strictly true. He said:
“Mr. Darling says that he has increased the pint of beer by four pence. This is how much he has increased the price when the beer is still at the brewery. By the time the brewery’s profit is taken into account, for us to make any profit on a single pint we have to raise our prices by about 14 pence.”

These new tax rates, the ever looming credit crunch and supermarkets selling alcohol substantially cheaper than prices on offer at pubs, fewer punters are going to the pub simply because they cannot afford to.

This has led to a staggering 27 pubs across the country closing every week.

Chris Sweeney, landlord of the Book in Hand pub in Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire said:
“At the rate all the pubs are closing, God help us try and keep afloat!”

Since joining the Facebook group, the landlords say that they have all had great support from their regular punters.

Emma Chapman from the Jolly Brewer in Lincoln said:
“We were told about the Facebook campaign by a customer and since then we’ve had great support from fellow customers.”

Josh Boyd from Kai’s Bar in Louth agrees and says:
“The posters have caused a real topic of conversation in our pub, with most punters happy that he has been barred.”



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