Focus on tax cuts, not pint bottles, urges Chapel Down

THE Government should focus on cutting taxes to save struggling hospitality businesses rather than introducing “irrelevant” pint bottles for wine, the boss of England's biggest winemaker said.

Makers of sparkling and still wine are now able to sell their wine in pint bottles (568ml) after a legal change by the Government, which ministers hailed as a “Brexit freedom” in December.

However, Andrew Carter, the chief executive of Chapel Down, said the Government should instead focus on preventing closures in the hospitality industry by cutting VAT.

He said: “The pint bottle story was completely irrelevant. You know, there is no consumer desire for it. And operationally, there's no glass and ability to be able to do it in any scale.”

Mr Carter said the Government should look at ways to cut costs. The price of alcoholic drinks has risen over recent months after the Chancellor increased the rate of duty paid by producers in August. And hospitality bosses warned that coming increases in business rates and the National Living Wage this year will lead to more closures. UK Hospitality, a trade association, called on ministers to introduce a reduced VAT rate for hospitality businesses as a way of reducing costs.

“We do need to work together and identify where there's opportunity to stimulate and the biggest one is clearly for hospitality with the removal of VAT to enable those guys to be able to continue to be part of their communities and grow business,” Mr Carter added.

It comes as Chapel Down said sales grew 14pc to £17.9m in 2023. Retail sales of English sparkling wine grew by 16pc over the year while champagne sales fell 9pc, according to Nielsen data.

Mr Carter added: “In a 15 to 20year time frame, there is no doubt that English sparkling wine will be bigger than champagne.”