There was some relief in pubs last night after the news that Guinness will not be increasing the price it charges publicans this year.

Brewing giant Diageo confirmed to senior publicans that keg prices will not rise until next year, which follows an announcement last week by Heineken - which also brews the Beamish, Murphy's and Ireland's Edge stouts - of a 17c-a-pint rise.

But the Guinness news might only provide temporary relief to publicans and punters, with the new year less than seven weeks away.

The news comes as one leading publican reacted to the Heineken price rises by tweeting a picture of dozens of bottles of Heineken and Coors beers in unopened cases in his cellar yesterday, captioned: "Being returned to our suppliers today."

The Swan Pub owner Ronan Lynch, and treasurer of the Dublin publicans' group the Licensed Vintners Association, did not respond for comment yesterday but added in his tweet: "Zero explanation needed."

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Heineken's increases mean pubs are expected to hike their price of pints of Coors, Orchard Thieves, Heineken and Moretti by up to 40c to match wholesale price increases.

Kavanagh's Pub on New Street, Dublin, said: "All pubs should remove at least one of Heineken's product lines from our businesses, that should make them sit up and take notice."