Pub landlords warn the pub industry is at risk of “dying” after an “astronomical” rise in costs for pubs and brewers ahead of Rachel Reeves unveiling the Budget
Rachel Reeves has been warned the Budget risks triggering the “biggest loss of pubs in a generation”.
The Chancellor is under pressure to act, amid recent forecasts that the rate of pub closures could rocket from one a day this year to six a day next year. That would be on the back of more than 2,000 that have shut since 2020.
The warnings came as a 250,000 strong signature petition was handed into Downing Street, calling on the government to “act now to save British pubs”. The petition, organised by the British Beer and Pub Association and the Long Live The Local campaign, calls for “permanent and meaningful” business rate reforms , a reduction in beer duty towards the European average, and action on regulatory cost increases facing pubs and brewers.
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The Mirror has been championing the importance of locals and their role in helping to combat loneliness through our Your Pub Needs You campaign, which is also calling for action to help communities take over threatened boozers. Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the BBPA, said: “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the Chancellor to undo years of devastating policies that have stripped brewers and pubs of profits and communities of their heart.
“She must understand that anything other than meaningful business rates reform, a cut in beer duty, and mitigation of eye-watering regulatory costs would crush a sector that is already shouldering so much. Get this Budget right and we can invest in workers and communities, get it wrong and we could be looking at the biggest loss of pubs in a generation.”
Landlords attending the event in Westminster spelt out both the vital importance of pubs to their communities, and the pressure they are under. Craig MacLeod, 59, travelled down from Inverness in Scotland, where he runs the Innes Bar, for the event.
“I wanted to stand up for the plight of the industry,” he said. “We are being hit hard by taxes. We’ve got business rates, and gas and electricity costs have gone through the roof. We are being hit harder and harder all the time.
Mr MacLeod, who has been in the industry for 30 years, said: “Nowadays you’re lucky if you make 10p or 12p a pint profit. The pub industry is dying and if we have any more cost increases it will die even quicker. Anything that increases taxes will be the final nail in the coffin. A lot of pubs are just holding on.”
James Fitzgerald, landlord of the Thatched House pub in Hammersmith, West London, revealed his costs had surged by more than £20,000 in the past year and that he had sadly had to cut staff numbers by a quarter. “The pub is very much a community asset,” said single father Mr Fitzgerald, 44, who also lives over the pub. “I could open fewer hours but we have people in their 80s who come in at 10am for a cup of tea and stay for a couple of hours.”
Like many pubs, it is any the venue for numerous fundraising events. This week saw it was host one such meal for 60 people to raise money for a local project that manages four community gardens, with Mr Fitzgerald shouldering the cost himself.
“Saving the pub industry is crucial in so many ways but things are so grim at the moment,” he said. “Because we are a community pub we are lucky to have a lot of support, but the costs of running the business are astronomical.”