Guinness slammed for ‘unfair’ price hikes in UK as demand soars

Fears of a national Guinness shortage last year had drinkers rushing to their locals to get their hands on the black stuff – but now a fresh crisis is facing the popular Irish beer.

Pub owners have complained of an “unfair” hike in the price of Guinness handed down by its British-based owner Diageo, the multi-national beverage company also behind Smirnoff and Gordon’s gin.

With Guinness continuing to rank as the country’s favourite beer, demand is expected to rise further as sports fans gather to watch the Six Nations this weekend – but publicans are concerned they’re losing out on high profits due to “unexplained” price hikes.

Pauline Forster, who owns The George Tavern in London, told The Telegraph: “They put the prices up all the time with no explanation. There is nobody to ring up and you can’t even get a reply on the website.”

Anthony Pender, founder of the pub and restaurant group Yummy Collection added that the cost of a keg of the drink had risen by 37%, around £81, since the COVID pandemic.

“It’s our worst gross profit item on the bar,” he told the publication. “It’s just denting our margins when we need decent margins to pay staff.

“They’re flogging the golden goose, in a way, by just radically increasing their prices and killing our margins.”

“A few years ago, Guinness was a very old fashioned drink, something you’d associate with old ladies who’d have a stout before bedtime,” Clive Price, managing director of Barons Pub Company said. “Now it’s the most trendy pint on the bar.”

Mr Prince also suggested that Diageo had taken advantage of this popularity spike to be “fairly aggressive with their price rises”. “They’ve been nudging it up more than anyone else for the last four to five years,” he added.

A spokesperson for Diageo said: “Guinness is priced very competitively in the marketplace and the average price of a pint in the UK is actually 15% lower than the average for world premium lagers.

“We have invested significantly in building the brand and in delivering high quality pints in pubs across [the] country, all of which has made Guinness a footfall generator for pubs and bars.”

Guinness saw its net sales grow by 13% in the half-year to December – and Diageo was forced to raid its security stocks in Ireland to plug a gap in demand in the UK amid fears of a shortage earlier this winter.

The firm has warned that US President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on imports could spell trouble for its recent high performance, however.

Diageo bosses said the 25% tariffs planned for imports from Canada and Mexico would hit its tequila and Canadian whiskey products the hardest and could see profits drop by £161 million.