Days after they were told that they may soon be able to open for longer hours, publicans say a different government department may be about to threaten their livelihoods.
They fear that many country pubs may have to close if tougher drink-drive laws are implemented.
The warning comes after three months of consultation on a proposed change in the law.
The drink industry's opposition to the proposed change has received the support of a former Labour transport minister, Lord Marsh, who lost his wife in a road accident.
The consultation was prompted by a call from EU Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock for European limits to be harmonised at 50mg per 100ml of blood.
Nine out of 15 EU countries have such a limit and a further two are bringing theirs down to that level.
Britain's limit is currently 80 mg. The Campaign Against Drinking and Driving says the families of victims will be betrayed if it is not reduced.
Official figures suggest that alcohol is involved in about 540 deaths each year on UK roads. It has been estimated a 50mg limit could reduce this figure by anything from 16 to 50.
Campaigners say these figures are wrong anyway because alcohol causes accidents even when the driver later passes the 80mg test.
But the Brewers and Licence Retailers Association says reducing the limit would simply damage trade in village pubs since most drunk drivers are well over existing limits already.
Their campaign has received support from an unlikely source, former Labour transport minister Lord Marsh, who served in the Wilson government which introduced the breathalyser in 1967.
The peer told a House of Lord's debate on the subject that the government was concentrating too much on drink-driving at the expense of bad driving.
He said this was a "profound mistake with very serious implications" since the UK's drink-drive laws were "among the most effectively enforced in Europe."
Lord Marsh blamed the driving test for many more accidents calling it "completely inadequate for today's speeds and volumes."
The former minister was speaking following the publication of a Lord's committee's report which opposed EU harmonisation because countries would still have different penalties and enforcement measures.
Instead, it suggested stiffer penalties for the estimated 85,000 "high-risk" offenders, who drive well over the legal limit and account for over half of drink-drive accidents.
The idea of a device which locks a car's ignition if the driver is over the limit was also put forward, as were new police powers to breath-test large groups of people, at sporting occasions or rock concerts.
The government says many of these conclusions are in line with its own views.
But it believes there is no "quick fix", but wants to do more to reduce the numbers killed or injured.
However, ministers believe further action is needed to combat the problem.
If they do decide to reduce the 80mg limit, this will need to go before parliament.

PENNY-PINCHING Chancellor Gordon Brown has rocked beer drinkers by putting up the price of a pint in his so-called "Budget that unites a nation".
Many financial commentators and City analysts had expected him to freeze the tax. Instead, he slapped on 1p more - costing consumers a massive £100 million, according to one major industry body.
Other trade groups were furious that he chose to do nothing to close the duty gap with the rest of Europe.
The Brewers and Licensed Retailers Association claimed the rise - at 3.4 per cent - was half as much again as the rate of inflation.
"Even an inflation increase is a real increase when tax on beer in the UK is compared with France," said chief executive Rob Hayward.
That could translate into an increase of between 2p and 5p across the bar. The BLRA forecast "job losses, business closures and less choice for the consumer".
National brewer Carlsberg-Tetley slammed the "short-sighted action".
Mary Curnock Cook, director of the British Institute of Innkeeping, said: "I find it incredible that the Chancellor sees fit to raise beer duty in the light of the recent research on the social costs of bootlegging."
Mr Brown already presides over a Treasury surplus of £17 billion - and could have put it to work in the fight against cross-channel trade.
"The Chancellor must use some of this increased revenue to start stamping out this vile industry," Ms Curnock Cook warned.
Major pubcos echoed her words. Said Pubmaster chief executive John Sands: "This latest increase marks another step back, which will impact adversely on our tenants and their customers."
Meanwhile, spirits drinkers were celebrating the fact that Mr Brown decided not to put up their favourite tipple by the threatened rate of inflation. Instead, "shorts" stay put, while wine is up by 4p a bottle.
Campbell Evans, director of government and consumer affairs for the Scotch Whisky Association, commented: "We didn get our hoped-for four per cent reduction but we did get a narrowing of duty discrimination."
Wine and Spirit Association director Quentin Rappaport said: "While we welcome the freeze on duty for spirits we are very disappointed that the Chancellor has put up wine. Reducing duty rates is the only really effective way to stem the tide of cross-Channel shopping."
As usual, it was tobacco that predictably got clobbered the most. The 25p-a-packet rise in cigarettes will create an extra £360 million in revenue - and "every single penny," the Chancellor promised, would go to the Health Service.
Licensees, though, could lose business as a result.
Tax on amusement machines is also up - but, because of the complicated banded structure, experts were not clear by how much. One estimate put it as high as seven per cent.
With small businesses emerging as a government favourite, craft brewers and modest-sized pub cos can expect to benefit from a significant drop in corporation tax from 23 to 20 per cent. But even here there is a sting in the tail.
The British Retail Consortium said in its Budget reaction: "Tax cuts for small businesses are welcome, but many are finding that what they save on tax they are paying in higher administration costs to cope with increased amounts of government red tape."
Mr Brown had some crumbs of comfort for licensees running rural pubs.
He promised to spend £250 million on improving roads in country areas, while car drivers using them would not be faced with increased road taxes or punitive fuel rises.