Wed 18th Mar 2015 - City Pub Company to donate £25,000 to coalition after duty cut City Pub Company to donate £25,000 to coalition after duty cut: The City Pub Company is to donate £25,000 to the coalition after George Osborne reduced beer duty by a 1p today, the third consecutive Budget duty cut. Clive Watson, chairman of the City Pub Company, said: "The 1p reduction in beer duty is great news for pub companies like us and I am delighted to share the benefit with customers by reducing the price of our locally brewed beers by 5p a pint across our estate. We serve a wide selection of outstanding cask-conditioned and craft beers and I'm sure the lower price will make them taste that little bit better. The [Conservative-Liberal Democrat] coalition's decision to reduce beer duty for the third consecutive year is unprecedented and extremely encouraging for the pub sector and of real benefit to the consumer. In appreciation for the coalition's recognition of the industry's need for lower duty, City Pub Company will also be donating £25,000 to the coalition." Osborne is also cutting cider duty and whisky duty by 2%, with wine duty frozen. He also offered more support investment and training. The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an increase in the personal tax allowance to £12,500 by 2020, a confirmation that the Annual Investment Allowance would not fall to the planned £25,000. Rooney Anand, chief executive at Greene King, said: “We are pleased to see the Chancellor has cut beer duty for a third straight year. The penny off a pint will be passed directly onto our hard-working licensees with immediate effect while, in our retail business, we will pass on the potential saving by investing it in creating additional jobs and delivering further customer service improvements in our pubs.” The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers' chief executive, Kate Nicholls, said: “Today’s measures will undoubtedly benefit licensed hospitality businesses, giving our customers more money to spend and our businesses more to invest.” Richard Westwood, managing director of Marston’s Beer Company, said: “This is great news for the industry which employs nearly a million people across the UK. This third consecutive reduction in beer duty, which we have constantly called on the government to act upon, enables businesses to continue investment as we [Marston’s] have demonstrated with our £7m state-of-the-art bottling line in Burton on Trent, opened just over a year ago. This further reduction means more long term planning, more jobs and better prospects for the sector."