Southwold brewer Adnams has pledged to support the pub industry by freezing its beer prices for the rest of this year.

Adnams says its announcement means that, apart from passing on any increase in beer duty should the situation arise, its prices to the UK on-trade will be held for the remainder of 2016.

Andy Wood, chief executive at Adnams, said: “We are very mindful that the trading environment for pubs in particular remains extremely challenging. We fundamentally believe that pubs have a unique and important place in communities and their continued closure rate remains troubling.

“When allied to the significant competitive pressures they face this is something that we cannot ignore. We held Adnams beer prices during the period 2009 to 2014 and with such things as fuel prices at their lowest level for years feel it is appropriate to do so once again.”

Adnams, whose beer brands include Southwold Bitter, Ghost Ship and Broadside, as well as the Jack Brand range of craft beers, supplies on-trade customers across the country as well as its own portfolio of pubs, mainly in East Anglia, the retailers in the off-trade.

In March last year, it confirmed plans to invest around £7million to expand its brewing capacity in order to meet growing demand across the market, including kegged, canned and bottled beers as well as its core range of cask-conditioned ales, and to allow for the introduction of new products.

This announcement came alongside plans for a £500,000 investment to add two further pot stills and extra storage tanks within its distillery, which has also seen strong growth in demand.

Adnams reported a 14.7% increase in operating profit for its last full year to £3.815m, although the pre-tax figure was broadly flat, at £4.128m, largely due to the 2013 figure having included a bigger contribution from property sales.

Its results for the first half of 2015 showed a 12% increase profits to £962,000, with one-off gains on the sale of three pubs offsetting a dip in revenues which Adnams attributed to last year’s long, cold spring and the temporary closure of two of its hotels for refurbishment during the period.

The half-year figures, published last August, included property profits of £407,00, up from £107,000 a year earleir, with the Bull at Cavendish, the Fleece at Bungay and the Queen’s Head at Long Stratton being sold during the period.

Adnams added that the Ship at Burnham and the Cock at Clare had been sold since the end of the first half, with three more pubs on the market.