British Pubs Are Going Out Of Business On A Regular Basis, Due To A Number Of Economic Factors, But Is There Anything That Can Be Done To Put A Stop To This Happening?

A few years ago, in many parts of the UK, it seemed like there was a pub somewhere in almost every street, but more recently, changes in people’s social habits, increasingly high taxes on alcohol and better awareness of the results of excessive alcohol consumption have begun to create major problems in the industry.

A 2011 report by the British Beer & Pub Association indicates that across the UK, about 25 pubs are going out of business each week, and although this figure is down from 40 per week a year ago, it is still a worrying trend. The average pub employs around ten members of staff, so 250 workers a week in the industry are facing unemployment, and there is also the knock-on effect on the brewing industry if the market for their products reduces as a result of the closures. It is reckoned that the pub and beer industry provides work for approximately one million people in the UK and if closures go on happening at this rate, then yet more jobs are will disappear.

As referenced above, more and more people (particularly in the present economic climate) are deciding to stay indoors rather than go out and spend an evening in the pub, and with the (comparatively) cheap prices charged for drinks in supermarkets, it’s little wonder. For the cost of a single glass of wine in a drinking establisment, it’s often possible to find a whole bottle of the same wine in a supermarket.

The health campaign for increasingly high prices for alcohol is an topic which splits opinions. On the one hand, if alcohol related problems are such a major problem, then it could be argued that this is a logical move, but it will then penalise the vast majority of people who simply like a pint of beer or a glass or two of wine with their dinner once in a while. And, whilst there may be evidence out there somewhere, I cannot find any data which says that the additional income raised from alcohol taxes is channelled specifically to the NHS to help them pay for treatment.

And sadly, although extremely well intended, paying out a substantial amount of money on adult created advertising campaigns aimed at preventing youngsters from drinking to excess is more likely to be perceived as dictating to them than offering genuine and sensible advice. For whatever reason alcohol will always be a temptation for a lot of British youth and highlighting for them the results of being drunk won’t work any better than making adverts for Laser eye surgery to point out what they might have to have done in the future if they spend too much time on computers and games consoles now and cause problems for their eyes.

For landlords who lease and manage a pub through with a brewery or pub management business, additional financial difficulties can crop up as the lease will usually demand that some or all of the supplies for the pub must be purchased from the parent company, and it seems that frequently the prices they charge are much higher than other wholesale outlets, which means that the landlord has to sell the drinks at a increased price, making the pub more expensive than others and quite likely losing business to other local bars which can purchase their supplies at a lower cost. Additional competition comes from the massive pub chains who can ask for large discounts on supplies for their whole network and who optimise their bar procedures with computerised tills and Laser eye barcode readers.

Evidently, the areas which are suffering the largest amount of pub closures are London and the North West of England, both parts of the country with a lot of inhabitants where it could be expected that there would be reasonable demand, but it could also be argued that regions with a large population will be badly hit with job losses in a recession and this may go some way towards explaining the reasons behind the present level of closures. It would be intriguing to do some research and see if these localities have witnessed a drop in other non-essential spending – have sales of new cars dropped, is there less demand for cosmetic surgery or Laser eye treatment, are less people going to the cinema or theatre?

It is a pity to see a previously thriving and well used pub shut down and being sold. It is an even greater pity that many of them will be purchased by developers who will either knock them down and build on the site, or gut the property and convert it into flats, offices or shops. Where you once went to socialise with your friends for the evening, you might now be living, working, going shopping, visiting the dentist or having your Laser eye surgery done – not exactly the same, is it?