A Suffolk brewery boss is hoping a draught beer duty freeze contained in chancellor Jeremy Hunt's "boring Budget" will help lift spirits ahead of the summer season.

Like all breweries, Southwold-based Adnams has faced eye-watering rises in its already high energy costs since last year. It was paying a seven-figure sum and saw its bill double.

"That has been very, very painful for us," admitted Andy Wood, who as well as heading up the pubs and brewery group is also a board member of tourism bodies Visit England and Visit East Anglia.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's announcement that a planned 11p rise in draught beer duty would not go ahead was his only nod to the hospitality sector in what was seen by some as an underwhelming March 15 Budget.

Budgets have become increasingly opaque making their impact difficult to assess, noted Mr Wood. This one contained little else to cheer the trade - with business rates reform, VAT cuts and help with energy among the notable absences.

"It's sounds encouraging but the devil will be in the detail and we'll need to examine it over the next few days," he said of the duty announcement.

One glimmer of hope was the forecast fall in inflation from 10.7% just before Christmas to 2.9% by the end of this year. A tax break announced for companies investing in plant was also welcome.

"We hope they are right. We are not seeing that reflected yet," he said.

"Hospitality nationally and in our region is a vital sector. On the back of the pandemic and then the energy crisis it's not in a great place and we would have liked to have seen some specific support."

The government also appeared to have overlooked the East Anglian region more generally in what largesse there was to spread about, he noted.

"Westminster views East Anglia as not somewhere that needs levelling up but not as vibrant as London and the South East. We want to see our region recognised for the potential it has," he said.

Some of its coastal towns were also areas of acute deprivation, he added, but this was not addressed in the Budget.

"On first read, it's not that exciting but we reserve the right to look at the detail," he said.

"I think what we have got is a prime minister and a chancellor who are looking to demonstrate their competence and steady the ship. That's why it's a bit of a boring budget. That's no bad thing."

What businesses were looking for was consistency to give them confidence to invest, he said. Irrespective of the Budget, warmer weather is likely to lift sentiment later this year and hospitality businesses are hoping this will be helped by good news on the inflation front - and the freeze on beer duty.