IF you love a cheap pint at the bar, Herefordshire is the place to be.

The price of beer across the UK differs by more than £1 a pint - with Shropshire and Herefordshire having the cheapest drinks, a new study reveals.

A pint in those areas costs £3.37, compared with £4.44 in London, the most expensive area for pub-goers.

The average pint of beer across Britain has increased by 9p over the past year to £3.69, according to the new edition of the Good Pub Guide.

Pubs brewing their own beer are cheaper, selling a pint for £3.26, the research found.

The cheapest regions were Shropshire and Herefordshire (both averaging £3.37 a pint), Staffordshire (£3.40), Yorkshire (£3.42) and Northamptonshire (£3.44), said the guide.

The most expensive were London (£4.44), Surrey and Hertfordshire (both 3.97), Berkshire and Sussex (both £3.93) and Kent (3.88).

The average cost of a pint in Wales is £3.48 and is £3.79 in Scotland, according to the study.

Fiona Stapley, editor of the Guide, said pubs had faced rising costs over the past year - including increased business rates and rents, higher staff wages and more expensive raw materials.

She said: "We should all be supporting our local pub, because how boring would high streets be with just coffee shops?"

The Guide, now its 37th edition, is published by Ebury Press, featuring more than 5,000 pubs following pub-goers' recommendations, backed up by editor inspections.