Banks’s brewer Marston’s today froze the price of a pint, bringing drinkers some much-needed cheer in the recession.

The Wolverhampton-based firm, which also brews Pedigree, pledged to maintain prices until at least the autumn.

It said it was absorbing “substantial price increases” from the major lager brewers.

The freeze comes months after it increased the price of a pint by 10p, blaming it on “unprecedented” raw materials price rises.

The firm, which runs about 2,250 pubs and bars in England and Wales, today said pubs in its Marston’s Pub Company, the tenanted and leased division, saw like-for-like profits drop by about six per cent in the 15 weeks to January 17.

It said it would help tenants over lager price rises, as well as looking at ways to stimulate business, including more flexible agreements and rents help.

Chief Executive Ralph Findlay today said in a trading statement it was in a “difficult trading environment” but said the freeze on beer and lager prices was to “keep tenants in place and maintain the stability of the estate.”

Marston’s – formerly known as Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries – said the move would protect sales and margins.

At Marston’s Inns & Taverns, the managed pubs division, like-for-like sales for the period were 2.9 per cent below last year. Trading over Christmas and New Year slightly improved but the brewing sideincreased volumes on last year, helped by acquiring Oxfordshire-based Wychwood Brewery.