JW LEES has today announced that it has decided to cancel its wholesale price increase in the light of the Chancellor’s budget statement. 

The company will instead absorb the increased cost of input prices including ingredients, production costs and wages. 

The independent Manchester brewery had previously stated that its wholesale beer prices were to increase 6p a pint from Monday 25 March, which would have meant a price increase of 10p a pint for customers.

The company will instead absorb the increased cost of input prices including ingredients, production costs and wages. 

William Lees-Jones, managing director of JW Lees, said: “We were surprised by the Chancellor’s announcement that not only was he going to stop the beer duty escalator, but also reduce beer duty by 1p pint and so we have decided that it would be unfair of us to put our prices up on any of our beers, including new product launches, despite our cost increase. 

“Competitive retail pricing is key to the success of all our pubs and by absorbing our cost increases we are ensuring that our customers benefit from the good news in the budget.”

The picture shows a beer tasting with Marco Pierre White at the Greengate Brewery of JW Lees.