Beer in Bedfordshire is more expensive than almost anywhere else in the UK, according to the new Good Pub Guide 2009.

The average cost of a pint of bitter in the UK is £2.58, but in Bedfordshire it will set you back £2.69.

That's more than in neighbouring Cambridgeshire, where a pint costs an average of £2.56, Northamptonshire, where landlords charge an average of £2.60, and Hertfordshire, where drinkers can expect to pay £2.67.

Beer lovers who enjoy even five pints a week will therefore have to spend £33.80 a year more in Bedfordshire than they would just a few miles away.

Bedford borough councillor Andrew McConnell (Con, Brickhill) is a fan of the great British pint and is calling for the Government to change the way it taxes alcohol to help beer drinkers.

He said: "The trouble is, the Government takes a huge chunk in VAT and alcohol duty which punishes all drinkers, rather than tackling the minority of binge drinkers.

"What we should do is raise tax on 'problem beers', super-strength beer and alcopops, as they are all too affordable, and use the money generated to give sensible drinkers a much-needed discount on the price of a pint.

"This would see average prices of a pint in Bedfordshire tumble. I will be writing to the Government to call for an investigation into this matter."

The cost of beer across the UK has risen by seven per cent in the last year alone.

But drinkers can take solace in the fact that a pint of Two Brewers bitter in The Wellington Arms, Wellington Street, Bedford, only costs £2.30 – and its most expensive guest ale this week, Witch Otter, will still only set drinkers back £2.60.

The White Horse in Newnham Avenue also bucks the Bedfordshire trend for expensive bitter, serving Eagle IPA at £2.55, although Charles Wells Bombardier costs £2.85.

Paul Wells, chief executive of Bedford brewer Wells & Young's, said: "The beer industry is facing a number of price increases for our principle raw materials, such as malted barley and hops where there is a world shortage.

"On these ingredients we're facing double-digit price increases, and have done for the last two years, and we're likely to face the same again next year.

"In terms of energy costs, we're facing a 60 per cent increase next year.

"Our pubs are adapting to the ban on smoking, and then to cap it all we have the Government imposing a four pence a pint duty increase on British beer in the last budget."

He added: "We are now lobbying the Government to reconsider its decision to further increase tax on beer next spring, because at the moment, foreign wine producers and cider manufacturers are being favoured over the great British pint."

Britain's most expensive beer can be found in Surrey – where a pint of bitter costs an average of £2.88.

The cheapest is served in the West Midlands, where it only costs £2.25.