What would the Wurzels say? Budget takes fizz out of cider

Bad news for tramps, teenagers, rock stars and Prince William – cider is going up in price.

From Sunday the cost of a pint will rise by 10p, an increase that its manufacturers warn could choke off the recovery in sales prompted by cider's rehabilitation from low-budget choice of vagrants to tipple of pop and actual royalty.

"When Gordon Brown and then Alistair Darling left us alone for a few years, our investment and innovation doubled the value of the cider market and doubled the contribution we made to Government," said Henry Chevallier Guild, chair of the National Association of Cider Makers. "All that might now be at risk."

Pop group the Wurzels were left spluttering into their scrumpy. In a statement Tom Banner and Pete Budd, members of the group who had a hit single in 1976 with "I Am A Cider Drinker", claimed that scrumpy was "one of the few pleasures we cherish down on the farm in the West Country".

"We all realise that in these times we have to tighten the string on our trousers, but we must admit that having to cut down on this local favourite leaves us feeling that we are being unfairly penalised," they said.

Shares in C&C – the company that makes Magners – rallied on the Stock Exchange, suggesting that investors, relieved that their liquid assets had escaped tougher action, were off to the pub to celebrate.

Cider has been a staple drink of England for at least 800 years and had been untaxed in the 20th century until modern duty was introduced in 1964. As a result of the Budget, cider duty will rise by 13 per cent, but it will still be much less than that applied to beer, which will rise from 46 to 50 per cent.

About six years ago big producers such as Scottish & Newcastle opted to stop selling budget two-litre bottles of cheap cider, which often ended up in the sozzled hands of derelicts and adolescent troublemakers. Combined with the marketing of cider with ice by Magners, sales doubled between 2004 and 2008 to £2.2bn. Pop stars Arctic Monkeys spoke of their pleasure knocking it back, while Lily Allen was pictured drinking it at Glastonbury. Another fan is broadcaster Chris Evans, but that hasn't put people off. Sales rose by 7 per cent last year.