£1.31 of a £4.90 North East pint goes to the Treasury, says a Washington licensee

Shaun McManus, licensee at the Teal Farm Pub in Washington and founder of StockTap, has put a number on the tax inside a North East pint, The Morning Advertiser reports.

Using the MA's own pint survey, which puts the average North East pint at £4.90, he calculates about £1.31 goes to the Treasury in VAT and draught duty. On a £5.34 pint it's about £1.39. The duty part barely moves with price, because duty is charged on the product, not the selling price: roughly 50p a pint either way.

The weekly picture - A wet-led local selling 800 pints a week hands over about £1,100 a week in VAT and duty - About 10p of the 89p VAT on an average pint is VAT charged on the duty itself - February's 3.66% duty rise added about 2p a pint on a standard lager

Ahead of the Budget, McManus says a duty freeze would protect about £15 a week for a pub his size, while each point off VAT would be worth about £30 a week. His single pick would be a cut to draught duty, because it only lands in pubs.

What it means for your site: run the same sum on your own pint price and weekly volume. Knowing what tax takes before cost of sales makes your GP and pricing conversations with your pub company much sharper.