A four per cent increase on “beer tax”, the biggest jump in 30 years, is being passed onto many who enjoy a cold beverage at their “local” — but not in Rochester.
Mr Fisher said he could not afford to put the price up, as funny as that sounded, because people would just choose to stay home.
“We are about attracting people to the pub, not turning them away,” he said.
“If we were to fall into line with the tax increase it would mean a pot of beer would cost about a dollar more.
“That won’t be the case here.”
Mr Fisher said his patrons had enough to worry about with an increase in living costs, food and fuel.
“Kegs go up pretty regularly with CPI and I am hearing a lot of pubs will now charge $6.50 for a pot,” he said.
“We will continue to charge $5 to $5.50.”
Mr Fisher said metropolitan pubs could “charge whatever they wanted’’ because CUB had no control of what hotels charged for their beer.
“They (hoteliers) dictate their own prices. It used to be different when my father owned hotels (in the early 1970s),” he said.
“It was 29 cents a glass back when my dad first had pubs. If he had of put up the price CUB would have stopped delivering the beer.
“The value of the hotel used to go up and down depending on the amount of kegs (beer) it sold.
“And, accordingly, the more beer you sold the dearer your licence was.”
Not long after Mr Fisher purchased his first hotel the government put tax on beer and introduced a “one-size-fits-all’’ liquor licence cost.
“Back then a keg cost under $100. Now they cost $360,” he said.
Mr Fisher said country pubs no longer dealt solely with CUB, long gone the days of a representative from the company walking in to talk one-on-one with the publican.
“It is all done online now, not the way I would choose to do business,” he said.
Mr Fisher said some publicans bought their beer through places like Dan Murphys and Campbells (warehouse).
He said he was fortunate in that he, to some extent, ran his own race and could direct his energies in other directions to create business.
“I feel sorry for publicans who are leasing hotels,” he said.
Rochester Hotel has eight staff working full-time and part-time, Mr Fisher among those as he gets back behind the bar due to COVID-19 affecting the business in the past two years.
He said the much-talked about hike in the “beer tax’’ was only being applied in certain scenarios.
“I know people who were at Crown (casino) last week and it was $9 a pot and $23 for a cocktail,” Mr Fisher said.
“If we did that we would not be in business very long. In seven years we have gone from $4 to $5.50 a pot.”
Mr Fisher said his business sold a lot more cans and stubbies than anything else.
“We operate with low overheads, which allows us to run our own race,” he said.
“What I do know is you cannot afford to charge people through the roof for a pot of beer in the bush.”
Mr Fisher said while his patrons were loyal, enjoying a catch up in the sports bar or a drink with their meal in one of the hotel’s dining areas, he was certain an increase in price would send some away.
“That hasn’t charged from when dad had pubs,” he said.
“I remember when the price of beer went up to 35 cents a glass and the regulars used to tell him if he put the price up they would stop drinking beer.
“We have now focused very much on other areas and try to cater for everyone.”
Mr Fisher said permanent accommodation would be one of the hotel’s major innovations, current work on the upstairs of the 150-year-old building aiming to solve a shortfall in the region’s accommodation.
“At the moment we don’t have anyone that lives here, but we are renovating upstairs with a goal of making that happen,” he said.
In the meantime people can enjoy one of the cheapest pots of beers in the region.
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