Fifty pubs are closing every month in England and Wales, according to real estate adviser Altus Group, as business struggle with energy and other costs.
Altus analyses government property records. These reveal that, in the three months until the end of September, 150 pubs were either demolished or converted to other uses.
Robert Hayton, UK president of Altus Group, is critical of the recent ‘mini-Budget’, saying it had “glaring omissions”. He added: “It beggars belief that a self-proclaimed low-tax government could allow pubs to lose their business rates discount next April, as well as seeing any benefit from next year’s revaluation potentially wiped out by inflation.”
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: “Pubs across the country are desperately trying to keep their doors open to serve their communities, but have encountered hurdle after hurdle whilst trying to recover from the pandemic.
“Energy bills and other costs are still spiralling, and publicans are still mostly in the dark about whether they will be able to keep their lights on this winter as they await further detail and calculations on the business energy cap from government.
“Meanwhile, customers are thinking very carefully about how and where they spend their money, meaning our pubs are squeezed at both ends. So, whilst these figures are deeply alarming, they are unfortunately not surprising, because publicans are at a complete loss about how to keep their businesses going.
“We are urgently calling on the government to ease the cost of doing business crisis for our sector by introducing a cut to VAT and business rates before we lose even more pubs and the livelihoods they support in villages, towns, and cities across the UK.”
