Pint: Fears over rising cost of a trip to the pub.
The brewers of Tennent's Lager has disputed suggestions that a proposed alcohol price rise could see the cost of a pint soar by as much as 40p.
Punch Taverns, which has more than 300 leased pubs in Scotland, said the brewers plan to impose "significant cost increases", with reports suggesting some bars could end up selling the drink for £3.50 a pint.
Punch has written to its publicans, suggesting they look at alternative lager suppliers.
Tennent Caledonian said it does not recognise claims of a 40p price rise and insisted it tries to minimise any price increases going to the trade.
Steve Annand, the company's commercial managing director, said the firm was "extremely disappointed" that the chain has communicated with publicans in such a way.
"The pricing that has been talked about and is somewhat headline-grabbing is not a price that we recognise," he said.
"We would like to reassure our customers and our drinkers that Scotland's favourite pint will continue to be available in pubs across Scotland, and at significantly less than £3.50 a pint."
Tennent Caledonian is owned by Dublin-based company C&C.
In a letter to licensees, Punch wrote: "C&C has signalled its intention to levy significant cost increases which are far above what we had expected. Unfortunately, extended negotiations have failed to reduce or delay these cost increases.
"To protect your profitability we have enlisted the support of a number of major national suppliers to assist our partners. We expect these alternatives to be competitively priced."
Punch said it will absorb the alleged price hike but only until early 2012.
A Punch spokeswoman said: "We have taken the proactive step of highlighting a potential price increase which could impact on our licensees' businesses and encouraged them to explore all the available options for their pubs' product range."
The row follows talks on a renegotiated deal between the two parties, the details of which have not been disclosed.
Mr Annand voiced dismay about the way Punch has approached the issue.
He said: "We're extremely disappointed that this is played out in this way. We always treat any negotiations with customers in confidence and we don't divulge any commercial negotiations to any third party."
Mr Annand would not comment on individual deals but said: "We're not saying there'll never be price increases. What we are saying is, as we have done in previous years, we always commit to communicating to our customers first as to any Tennent's Lager price increases. We do that in writing eight weeks in advance.
"Certainly, in the current economic climate, we take serious consideration about any price increases, taking into consideration a number of factors. We ensure that we're always trying to minimise our costs in the business so that we can minimise any price increase going to the trade. There's no one more committed to the Scottish licensed trade than ourselves."
Insisting he did not recognise the prices quoted, he said: "I'm confident there's a number of publicans out there in the free trade that can see through this. They know that that doesn't equate to any price increase that Tennent's has put through in the past.
"Tennent's does not control the price that our customers charge their customers, nor over the bar. Our renegotiated deal with Punch Taverns should not result in a price increase of the magnitude being alleged and, in fact, it does not follow that there should be any price rise for publicans or consumers."
Tennent's said the renegotiations involve less than 5% of Scotland's 11,500 licensed premises.
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