Should he be so inclined, The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, will no longer be able to pop down to The Anchor in High Street for a swift, post-debate pint.

Licensee Thomas Merritt and his wife Sue have taken the drastic move in protest at the latest 4p tax rise on a pint of beer.

The couple say the rise is another blow in what is tough times for Britain's watering holes.

Sue said: "It's a protest at the budget as it goes against the promises they made before. They just keep hitting the working man. The plan is to get him barred from every pub in the country, but it will probably not affect him as he could drink in the House of Commons or perhaps put it on his expenses."

The couple say that the rise combined with high energy prices, low alcohol prices in supermarkets and the smoking ban has had a serious effect on the business.

Currently, 42p per pint of five per cent beer is paid in excise duty, while another 17.5 per cent is paid in VAT.

This means for a £3 pint, 87p goes to the Government.

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), are also angry at the recent Budget, and chief executive Mike Benner said it was a "great big nail whacked ruthlessly in the coffin of the British pub".

Research director at St Ives-based Institute for Alcohol Studies, Dr Rachel Seabrook, said that in theory the rises should have hit supermarkets as the flat rate takes a greater proportion of their lower cost alcohol, but instead supermarkets are absorbing the cost by using alcohol as a loss leader.