Bar and restau­rant own­ers say sales have plum­met­ed, with cus­tomers cut­ting back, as the 100 per cent in­crease in ex­cise du­ty took ef­fect af­ter be­ing an­nounced in the 2026 Bud­get, which led to a rise in the cost of beer and al­co­holic bev­er­ages.

Own­ers say they are al­ready strug­gling to cov­er op­er­a­tional costs and main­tain prof­it.

At Club 2011 in Debe, own­er Ash­mir Mo­hammed said sales have dropped 40 to 50 per cent over the past two weeks, par­tic­u­lar­ly for pop­u­lar rums such as White Oak and Pun­cheon. “I will say it very, very blunt­ly—they (cus­tomers) say­ing they will go back to look­ing for cheap rum and bush rum,” Mo­hammed said.