'FANTASTIC news' — that was Dartmoor Brewery's reaction to last week's scrapping of the beer duty escalator by Chancellor George Osborne in his 2013 budget.

The escalator — which increased the price of alcohol by annual inflation plus two percent — will no longer apply to beer, although it remains in place for wines, spirits and cider. In addition, the chancellor announced that beer duty would be cut by 1p.

Mark Shackleton of Dartmoor Brewery, based at Princetown, said the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) had been lobbying hard for beer to be exempted from the escalator — but last Wednesday's news was still a surprise.

'We were amazed, to be honest, we didn't expect it,' said Mark.

'We have been arguing that people don't binge drink on real ale and the problems associated with anti-social behaviour and drinking don't really apply to us, and we felt our part of the industry was really being penalised.

'We have been lobbying MPs and we know quite a few MPs are real ale drinkers. I think there was quite a lot of public support for us, and I think the fact that quite a lot of pubs are struggling badly helped the campaign.'

Mark said real ale was the one area where supermarkets could not compete with pubs.

'You can buy real ale in a bottle from a supermarket but it's not the same as having it out of a barrel in a pub.

'Bottled real ale is always more carbonated and never really tastes the same.

'It's the part of a pub business which is really unique,' said Mark, who said the chancellor's support for the pub trade in terms of scrapping the beer duty escalator was vital for such an important industry.

'British pubs are a one of our biggest tourist attractions and if you look at the employment side, it's colossal because it's a very labour intensive industry.

'I really hope this will give the pub trade a kick start and give everyone a bit more optimism.'

Mark said the reaction of Dartmoor Brewery's pub customers to the news had been similar to his own — but he warned it could leave some in a slightly awkward situation.

'Pubs normally have one price increase a year. Brewers normally put their beer up around January/February time but a lot of pubs hold their prices and wait until the budget before they put it up.

'But of course the public are going to be going in expecting beer to be 1p cheaper, so that could be a slightly difficult one,' said Mark.