British pubs are shutting at an alarming rate with analysis reporting we are losing 80 a month.
Pubs will be hoping that a bumper summer of sport will give them a much-needed boost financially this year, with the Olympics and Euros ready for fans to gorge on. But for many, this will not come as welcome relief as instead, things are already too late.
According to new data revealed by Altus Group, there’s been a 56% increase in the closure rate compared to this time last year. The new data looked at the number of boozers that have been either demolished or repurposed.
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This incorporated ones that had been up for let or lying vacant. But there are concerns that this number is increasing with 240 thought to have shut down, been demolished or converted into buildings with other purposes. Wales and the northwest have been the hardest hit, with around 70 vanishing in each respectively over the last year.
Blame has been laid at the door of business rates by Alex Probyn from Altus Group. The rates tax businesses on the value of their properties and have no relation to their profitability.
The damaging power of the rates, he noted, come at a time when fewer people are out drinking in pubs because of the cost of living crisis.
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Mr Probyn said: “It is a tax that has risen 49pc during the last 14 years with business, across all sectors, now paying £9.48bn a year more than in 2010.”
Sir Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak and Ed Davey have all been recipients of letters signed by 80 of the UK’s largest brewers and pub groups. They asked leaders to try and do more to protect the industry, including an immediate cut to beer tax down in line with the average rate for Europe.
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