New figures show that bar sales are at their lowest for 75 years – putting pint purchases on a par with sales during the Great Depression of the 1920s.

A spokeswoman for Scarborough landlords told the Evening News that the situation for publicans in the town was worse than for most nationally as they had to endure the lengthy out-of-season period.

And she said many licensees would find it cheaper to buy booze from the supermarket than from their own breweries.

Nationally, sales over the last quarter dropped by 1.6 million pints a day between April and June this year, as the credit crunch saw regulars swap their pint and stool at the bar for their own sofa and beer bought cut-price from supermarkets, figures released by the British Beer and Pub Association have revealed.

In the same period alcohol sales in supermarkets soared by 3.8 per cent.

Kath Duffy, landlady of the Newcastle Packet and local spokeswoman for the Licensed Victuallers' Association, said: "I've been landlady here for 26 years and this is as bad as it's ever been. Pubs like ourselves on the seafront aren't doing bad business at the moment but no-one's doing well enough to make for the bad winter we've just had."

She said that the reason for the downturn in business was simply that people don't have the money to spend.

"The first thing that people cut back on when they're a bit short is going out. Supermarkets selling cut-price drinks and cheap drink promotions certainly don't make things any easier."

She added that it was up to the breweries and pub management companies to lend landlords a helping hand.

"There's just one solution – they have to bring landlords' rents down, that's the biggest killer. The other thing they could do is look at the prices they charge licensees for drinks. We get a decent discount because we've been here a long time but many people don't. Many landlords can buy from the supermarket at a better price than they can from their own brewery – it's daft isn't it?"

Stuart Neilson, landlord of the North Riding Hotel in North Marine Road, agreed that the breweries should take steps to help out licencees. "The industry needs to stand back and take a long hard look at itself and ask 'where do we go from here?'. At the moment they're working on the basis of volume gain and not financial gain, which can't go on.

"We're definitely feeling the pinch. People are choosing to buy cut-price alcohol from the supermarket rather than go to the pub.

"When you can buy alchohol cheaper than you can buy water there's definitely something wrong."

The LVA's local vice-president, Matt Coulson, said he could see more bad times for the industry in months to come as customers continue to tighten their belts. He also predicted that more pubs will close their doors for good.

"There's been a downturn in sales over the last few months. The smoking ban, higher prices and the credit crunch have all hurt the industry," said Mr Coulson.

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