Spare a thought for the pub trade during dry January says Phil Mellows, as he reminds us that there’s more to pub life than strong drink

A pint of beer on a welcoming pub table — Photo by Dan Barrett on Unsplash

In the wake of the festive season, it’s not just pub-goers who might suffer from a hangover. Pubs themselves often find life a struggle.

It’s always been the case that people, quite sensibly, choose to take it easy in the New Year. For one thing they don’t have the cash to splash over the bar.

In recent years various charities have taken advantage of that by organising a formal Dry January, making it more popular. But, for me, this is the time when you really need the pub to provide warmth and cheer in the gloomiest month.

The pub needs us, too. Christmas and New Year might have filled the tills but there are still bills to be paid, and the prospect of few customers coming through the door. So this is a plea to help them – and yourselves – by popping into your local this month

A while ago the BII, otherwise known as the British Institute of Innkeeping, ran a campaign titled Not Just a Pub to highlight the social benefits. And you can enjoy those benefits without having a drink.

Today there’s wider range of soft drinks and no and low-alcohol alternatives to booze and if, like me, you prefer to moderate your moderation, so to speak, there’s more choice among lower strength beers since the government changed the duty banding last August to reduce tax for brews below 3.5 per cent abv.

Suddenly, if not surprisingly, the market has been deluged with draught beers of around 3.4 per cent. I’ve tried quite a few of them and most are pretty good. I’m sceptical whether you can make a decent brew below 2.9 per cent, the previous threshold, but a few percentage points and the judicious use of hops make a big difference.

So if you still need an excuse to go to the pub, there it is.

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