The Office for National Statistics has today published the latest in its Economies of Ale series, looking at the impact of covid-19 on UK pubs.
Photograph: Unsplash/Amie Johnson
Today’s article uses data from the Business Impact and Conditions Survey (BICS) and includes data for April, when pub gardens were again able to open.
The responses from BICS show that, in late April, while 44% of all businesses had high confidence in surviving the pandemic, only 20% of pubs did.
The figures also show that while around one in ten (8%) workers were furloughed in late April, this rose to omore than half (55%) for pub employees, despite many pubs having re-opened.
The figures also give a worrying profit warning, with a third (33%) of pubs reporting profits were down more than a half in late April, compared with only a tenth (9%) of all other businesses.
In May 2021, however, the percentage of pub and bar owners who had “high confidence” in their establishment surviving the next three months passed 20% for the first time since November 2020.
