Why music-lovers should be worried about the government's plans to raise beer tax

In case you needed another reason to be disappointed in the UK government amid the mess that Brexit has caused, it seems that they are set on raising beer duty yet again. In other words, your local pub is about to be put at risk of closing thanks to increasing tax pressures. This has so many negative consequences.

Slaves at The Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow 2018 / Photo Credit: Stuart Westwood/Rmv/Zuma Press/PA Images

According to the Long Live The Local campaign, an average of three pubs close per day in the UK thanks to a third of takings going straight to the taxman. The UK now has one of the highest Beer Duty rates in Europe, three times higher than the US average and 12 times higher than our beer-swigging neighbours Germany. Worse still, the government only plans on increasing beer duty further this year. 

We are looking at losing a quarter of our good old British pubs which serves to have a disastrous effect on the country both socially and economically, but there's another reason why you ought to care about losing yout local bars.

UK punk duo Slaves have recently teamed up with British lager Carling and Long Live The Local to release a video for their song Bugs, featuring them performing in a modest bar to an avid audience. They are huge supporters of the cause not because they love a drink, but because they would not be where they are today without having landed their early gigs in local pubs.

Even if you don't go to live shows, or at least smaller gigs, many of your fellow music lovers do - and they are a big reason why some of your favourite artists have made it onto your Spotify library.

Many bands find their feet in small, local venues and go on to become hugely popular thanks to attracting the attention of punters. It's very difficult to find success on recording music alone, and it's damn near impossible to land a gig at a major venue or festival when you're not very well established.

More: Watch the video for Slaves' song Magnolia

The rise of beer tax is going to hit the British indie scene incredibly hard, which is why we are supporting a new petition to ask the government to reduce beer duty instead. If you want to do your bit to protect your local drinking hole and the future of live music, you can sign the petition on the Long Live The Local website.