Nearly 1,000 pubs shut down last year with thousands more letting staff go to cut costs
Campaigners say the Government must reform the “crippling” business rates to reduce the decline
PUBS are calling last orders at an alarming rate with nearly 1,000 shutting down last year.
Thousands of staff were also let go as bar bosses tried to stave off closure by cutting costs.
Campaigners say the Government must reform the “crippling” business rates.
Kate Nicholls of pub trade association UK Hospitality said: “Pubs are being hit with a myriad of cost pressures at a time of unprecedented political uncertainty and unstable consumer confidence.
"Unless positive action is taken by the Government to address crippling costs, more pubs will be forced out of business.”
A total of 914 pubs disappeared in 2018, according to real estate data company Altus Group.
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Tom Stainer of the Campaign for Real Ale said: “Since the last business rates revaluation in 2017, it has been clear that the system simply isn’t working for publicans.”
Around 76 pubs vanished each month in 2018, a slight slowdown on the previous year. In 2017, 1,292 disappeared from the high street — at a rate of more than 100 a month.
In the seven years prior to the 2017 change in business rates, the number dropped from 54,674 to 43,066.
The Sun Says: Last orders
THE sheer number of pubs closing every day is staggering.
These community hubs can knit a neighbourhood together. But landlords are battered by a perfect storm, much of which is created by the Treasury.
It’s not just booze taxes. The recent business rates revaluation has been the death knell for pubs across the country.
The bean-counters at No11 have promised they will reform rates before they strangle the high street.
The clock is ticking.
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