Pub gives out free pennies after 'nominal' tax cut

A pub manager is giving away a free penny with every pint after he said Chancellor Rachel Reeves' 1p cut in duty on draught beer was unlikely to alter prices at the bar.

Kyle Hamilton has set up an honesty box at the Flying Duck, in Ilkley, for customers to help themselves to a penny after each purchase.

He said he hoped the gesture would allow punters to benefit, but described the cut as "nominal".

Reeves announced the reduction in Wednesday's Budget, as part of a raft of measures intended to "wipe the slate clean and to put our public finances on a firm trajectory".

Mr Hamilton, 35, said: "I don't think consumers are necessarily going to see that penny directly, but we are putting an honesty box at the bar where people can help themselves to a penny after every pint they buy.

"They can feel it that way, but in a large scale it's a very nominal effect."

Asked on his wider thoughts on the budget he said he thought the rise in employers' National Insurance (NI) contributions and an increase in the minimum wage would "definitely affect smaller businesses".

"A lot of pubs are struggling as it is," he said.

"With people's drinking habits changing and the cost-of-living crisis, pubs are one of the big ones that are taking a massive hit."

The Flying Duck is doing what it can to stay afloat though, he said.

Its beer is brewed on-site and it hosts live music and quiz nights to keep punters in, despite a precarious time for pubs.

Its beer festival, from 8-10 November, however will not be raising money for the pub, but for local children's football teams.

There will be free brewery tours, live music and rock 'n' roll bingo over the weekend to raise funds.

In the Budget it was announced that the rate that employers pay in contributions will rise from 13.8% to 15% on a worker's earnings above £175 from April.

The threshold at which employers start paying the tax on each employee's salary will be reduced from £9,100 per year to £5,000.

However, the Chancellor said she would extend the Employers Allowance - the amount employers can claim back from their National Insurance bill - from £5,000 to £10,500.

The rise in National Insurance is expected to raise £24bn - more than half of all tax hikes announced in the Budget.

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