Increasing drink prices was last resort - landlady

A Staffordshire pub said it was reluctantly having to increase drink prices to help stay afloat, or face losing staff or cutting opening hours.

Laura Ball, who runs Charlie Bassetts, in Dilhorne, said she had held off for a long as she could after beer costs rose again in January.

The increase was due to rising supplier costs and increasing bills at the pub, she said.

"It's dwindling down that much, you can't physically stay afloat sometimes," she said.

The imminent men's football World Cup and the government allowing pubs to stay open later for games was good news for the industry, Ball said, but she added it was still a struggle.

Pubs and music venues in England also received a 15% discount on their business rates bills from this month with no increase for two years.

"Maintaining that price of beer, maintaining that price of everything else is becoming increasingly difficult because we're then not making a profit.

"It's so hard to stay afloat," she said.

She added the pub had tried to make savings in other areas first and raising drink prices was the "last resort".

"It's cutting your staff down, it's closing for food on a Monday, putting deals on like your coffee and cake deals, instead of trying to push the beer up... that was our last resort, basically."

The pub, which also has a campsite, said it had absorbed the latest rise earlier this year.

"We don't want to do it but we've had no choice but to do it," Ball added.

She said customers understood the reasons.

"We try to put deals on where we can... we have some people come in and say 'oh, gosh £4.20 for a pint? You can go Wetherspoons and buy..', but it's a different aspect I think.

"Quite a few people on the campsite are coming from down south so they'll go, 'oh, god, a bargain. We're used to paying £7.40 for a pint of Madri'. Here it's £5.20."

Ball said potential customers often stayed at home to drink.

"The summer months are really helping, but you've [only] got three or four months over the whole 12 months that you're making a good earning."

Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.