ONE in eight pubs could close in the next four years if the Government does not stop supermarkets selling cheap alcohol according to the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra).

The campaign group is calling for a range of measures from the Government to help save traditional pubs after predicting up to 7,500 pubs could close by the end of 2012.

It has written to the Chancellor in advance of his pre-budget report to call for a reduction in VAT, investigations into a reduced rate of tax on pub beers and a minimum price per unit of alcohol to prevent it being sold at a loss in the off trade.

Several pubs have already closed in Worcester including The Alma, in Mill Street, and Salmon’s Leap, in Severn Street, which have been bought by The King’s School for use as a sports centre and pre-school.

Rosalind Hasbury, landlady of Hunter’s Lodge, in Sinton Green, near Worcester, for the last 18 years, said she was concerned but optimistic.

Mrs Hasbury, who lives above the 200-year-old pub which she runs with 22-year-old son James, said: “You can blame the breweries and say they’re selling to one sector of the community at a very low rate because they have no choice because supermarkets dictate the price because of their buying power; or you can blame the supermarkets for taking advantage of the fact that they have such massive buying power and selling everything at a loss to get people in the supermarkets; or you can blame the Government for allowing supermarkets to sell alcohol without the strict regulations that they impose on everyone else.”

However, she said pubs offered one thing supermarkets could not – a place where the community could meet, socialise and respect each other rather than buying alcohol from a supermarket and getting “slaughtered” at home.

Mrs Hasbury, who has only barred one person in 18 years, said: “You don’t learn respect in a supermarket but you learn it in a pub. I love pubs – I learned all my social skills in the pub.”

Camra chief executive Mike Benner says publicans have been forced to put up beer prices because of rising beer tax and that urgent action is needed to prevent a “bloodbath of pub closures” after busy Christmas trading.

The organisation also attacks cheap supermarket promotions and calls for a freeze on beer tax to help struggling publicans.

Camra representative Bill Ottaway, of Rainbow Hill, Worcester, said: “Surveys show that the pubs that just sell standard beers – non real-ale beers – are going to find it more difficult.

“We’re already starting to see pubs closing. It’s important that we get the Government to help put out under these circumstances as soon as possible.”