Pub closures: Britain is losing two pubs a day forever, according to latest figures
The humble pub is a Great British institution but, amid the cost of living crisis, we're losing around two venues each day. That's according to new figures from the first six months of this year. Are you sad to see them go? And what could and should be done to save them? We went out and about in a city near you to find out what you think.
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00:00 I think with everything, like the cost of living is going up,
00:05 so I believe local businesses are finding it a lot harder to survive
00:08 in terms of paying their overheads, paying staff,
00:10 and a lot of places finding it cheaper to just close rather than keep it running.
00:13 It's a vicious circle, isn't it?
00:15 They've got to put their prices up to stay in business
00:19 and people's salaries aren't commensurately increasing,
00:24 so you've less money in your pocket and it's cheaper to...
00:28 Drink less.
00:30 Drink less, or if you are going to drink, get it out of the supermarket and stay home.
00:35 Oh, definitely. The White Horse here has been closed for ages.
00:39 It's still got a To Let sign outside it.
00:41 I noticed that today.
00:43 We did have another pub, the Forrester's, that closed.
00:45 That's now a Tesco.
00:47 The number of pub closures here in the UK has been rising sharply
00:51 and it's a trend that's sadly continued in the first six months of the year,
00:54 according to the latest figures.
00:56 Data from real estate company Atlas Group shows almost 400 pubs
01:00 were demolished or converted to other businesses between the months of January and June 2023.
01:06 Have you noticed venues around you calling last orders for the final time?
01:10 Yeah, I've noticed pubs closing, but to be honest, unfortunately,
01:15 I've noticed them, as many others have, for so long.
01:19 You probably walk past pubs that you think,
01:24 "Oh, God, that's closed," but now you just seem to walk past them.
01:29 And you go...
01:31 And it's just become, unfortunately, it's become the norm now.
01:37 Luckily for me, my local hasn't closed down,
01:40 but I've noticed a lot have been closing down recently,
01:43 and it's a shame for business owners and the people that love to go there.
01:48 I haven't noticed pubs near me closing, but there's definitely...
01:52 There's two on my street specifically, and they close like three days a week now,
01:57 which wasn't the case before.
01:59 They used to be thriving.
02:01 I think people don't even...
02:03 Either they don't have the money to go out now, or they want to go out less as well,
02:07 so that compounded with the fact that it costs so much to run a pub at the minute.
02:11 In the spring budget, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt granted pubs relief
02:14 on their alcohol duty charged on draft beer,
02:17 meaning a pint would be taxed by 11p less.
02:20 But according to the data, perhaps the measures don't go far enough.
02:23 So what should be done to save our struggling drinks industry?
02:26 It's probably down to the brewers, the owners, asking for too much rent.
02:35 Do you think perhaps they need to be given some more support?
02:38 Well, some more... Less extra payments.
02:44 A lot of them have to work very hard just to pay their rent.
02:48 I am of the opinion, a strong opinion, that we shouldn't really have them.
02:57 Because there's so many people going on a regular basis,
03:01 and well, I don't think it's healthy.