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Many years ago we had Ted Bruning, then the editor of the CAMRA newspaper What’s Brewing, as the speaker at our local branch anniversary meal. He was probably the best speaker we’ve ever had, inspiring, amusing, and putting across a clear passion for pubs and beer.
So it’s disappointing in the extreme to see him now peddling this deluded drivel in the publication he once edited, suggesting that different parts of the drinks industry should be at each other’s throats. Spirits duty is already 37% higher than beer duty per alcohol unit. The anti-drink lobby will be chortling into their sarsaparilla. It’s not unlike the oft-heard moans from some brewers that cider duty is too low.
And to say that CAMRA should “form a united front” with Alcohol Concern beggars belief. Don’t you realise, Ted, that these people, despite their weasel words, at heart hate pubs and hate the brewing industry? Pretty much all “community pubs” depend for their survival on “binge drinkers”.
How many times does it have to be said – unless the alcohol industry presents a united front, lager and keg beer alongside real ale, spirits and wine alongside beer, off-trade alongside on-trade, it will be defeated? Every internal squabble just aids the opposition.
It’s often said “there’s no fool like an old fool.” And, sadly, Ted, you are that old fool.
The photo accompanying the article is also just a tad out of date.



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