- Morning Advertiser >
- Forums >
- News Article Comments >
- Pub crisis: Five close every day
News Article Comments : Pub crisis: Five close every day
Pubs are now closing at the rate of five a day — up 33% on last year as the credit crunch and Government enforced duty rises and red tape take a monumental toll on the industry.
The shocking figures, produced for the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) by consultants CGA, reveal that 36 pubs a week are now closing. Last year’s figures showed 27 a week were closing — a total of 1,409 closed during the year.
Pubs are now closing nine times faster than in 2006 and 18 times faster than in 2005.
The rapid increase in closures highlights just what damage will be done if the Chancellor pushes ahead with planned duty increases of 2% above inflation for the next four years in a sop to the health lobby.
The BBPA is urging all pubs to ring their bells at 1pm next Monday as a symbolic wake-up call to Westminster.
“These numbers are a stark illustration of the pressures on the pub sector,” said BBPA chief executive Rob Hayward. “Economic stresses and strains are being felt by every househo
27 Posts(s) found for this thread: Now displaying page 1 of 3
| Author Name | Opinion | Reply |
|---|---|---|
Phil Johnson 08/09/2008 07:58:13  |
RE: Pub crisis: Five close every day It is absolutely amazing how it is now the credit crunch and beer duty hikes that are at the forefront of pub closures when the initial cause of this annihilation, the smoking ban, seems to have been pushed to the back of the list. What came first I ask? During previous economic downturns pubs have always survived but since smokers have been ostracised the pubs have struggled. The smoker/drinker can no longer find solace in comfort with his fag & pint. You cannot blame cheap supermarket booze either-it's always been there! The supermarkets welcomed the smokeban with unreserved glee-and who could blame them? This government have made a monumental faux-pas imposing the most ill thought out law since time began and 78,000 people have now been rendered jobless because of it. The saddest thing is that they haven't even got the balls to admit their error! edited by: Phil Johnson at: 08/09/2008 07:58:47 This post replies to this thread |
|
| D Smith 08/09/2008 07:27:45 |
RE: Pub crisis: Five close every day Let Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be a warning to you pubco's. This government will not be able to help you out. The shares have become worthless. There have been accounting abnormalities! This all sounds familiar to me... Yes the smoking ban has been the nail in the coffin, and tax hikes have not helped, but the companies holding the monopoly are to blame... This post replies to this thread |
|
Alastair Elliott 08/09/2008 08:21:01 |
RE: Pub crisis: Five close every day I am sure that the Smoking ban is also a big contributor to these closures. This post replies to this thread |
|
| John H Baker (F2C) 08/09/2008 08:59:58 |
Pub crisis: Five close every day How can anybody in the trade not be sure that the smoking ban was a big contributor? The figures and the dates say it how it is. In 2007; when there was no credit crunch; and as Phil said there has always been cheap supermarket alcohol for at least the past 10 years; pub closures leaped astronomically. There is no doubt tho that this year the credit crunch has been another blow to landlords but this would have been lessened if smokers were welcome, standing outside in all weathers to have a smoke is not welcoming. John H Baker This post replies to this thread |
|
Inez Ward 08/09/2008 09:25:24 |
Pub crisis: Five close every day Taken from the BBPA website: Our members account for 98% of beer brewed in the UK and own more than half of Britain’s 58,000 pubs. Chairman: Michael Turner (Fuller Smith & Turner plc) Vice Chairman: Ralph Findlay (Marstons plc) Vice Chairman: Mark Hunter (Coors Brewers Ltd) Chief Executive: Robert Hayward OBE Executive Groups There are three Executive Groups as follows: • Brand Owners & Brewers Group (Chairman - Jonathan Neame - Shepherd Neame Ltd) • Pub & Leisure Group (Chairman – Ralph Findlay – Marstons plc) • Communications Group (Chairman – Simon Townsend – Enterprise Inns plc) The former Chairman and Vice President is Mr Graham Edward Tuppen, the CEO of Enterprise Inns. So the Pubcos know how bad it is and yet both Punch and Enterprise have both stated that there is no material deterioration in their licensees financial health and well being. Come on boys you can't have your cake and eat it too, perhaps these companies coud explain? If the trade is suffering how come the tenanted sector isn't? This post replies to this thread |
|
| Graham Barr 08/09/2008 09:56:53 |
Pub crisis: Five close every day The government must share some of the blame, introducing a mandatory smoking ban, increasing beer taxes and failing to act on the biggest alcohol related problem in our society – irresponsible pricing from the supermarkets. However the majority of blame must fall at the door of the Pubcos. Many of these pubs would still be viable businesses if their owners had given their ‘business partners’ a fighting chance to succeed, the Pubco’s have been too greedy for too long and aren’t really interested in running pubs anyway. High rents were reluctantly accepted by licensees during the good times because there was still profit to be had, but now the economy is in turmoil these rents are unfair and unsustainable. However, instead of helping the operators by reducing the rents the Pubcos find another ‘lamb to the slaughter’ to waste their life savings. Once there are no more lambs left the Pubco makes even more money from developing the site. Most of us are ‘tied’ and have accepted that prices we are charged will be higher than those in the free trade, however there is now such a disparity between these two prices. Even the man with the white van can make a living from selling his beer so much cheaper than the Pubcos - you have to ask how much profit do the Pubcos make? And to compound our price problems, managed pubs have resorted to selling beer at significantly reduced prices, us tied licensees haven’t got a hope in hell. Our population are now sat at home watching hundreds of channels on their TV’s, surfing the internet, having fun on their Nintendo Wii’s, enjoying a smoke and drinking lovely cheap alcohol. Pubs are now lifeless, boring places where a handful of die-hards prop up the bar and a few smokers huddle outside. Who on earth would want to visit a pub? I fear many more pub closures and job losses to come. This post replies to this thread |
|
| david atkinson 08/09/2008 09:47:30 |
Pub crisis: Five close every day BBPA ( RING YOUR BELLS ) Looking at that list of names of the members ,i think the licensees of the above members could give Robert Hayward OBE a alternative that they would like to ring , ring your bells at 1 pm on monday ... HOW SAD .....r.i.p The Pub. This post replies to Inez Ward > Pub crisis: Five close every day |
|
| Forum user 3957 08/09/2008 10:21:42 |
RE: Pub crisis: Five close every day Truly amazing! It's now up to five a day. I would imagine there would be around 50 a day if it wasn't for many licensees just hanging on by the skin of their teeth before the inevitable bankruptcy and foreclosure. The brewer/pubco response an amazingly foresighted 4% price rise. Who is going to pay these price rises - no one except the licensee who has no choice other than getting out of this shameful business. The pubcos have to realize the game is truly up for the now tried and failed tied house system and join the REAL business world. May be they could join forces with the utility companies who think they can just put prices up as much as and whenever they feel like it. I am lucky in that through unbelievable hard work and loyal but annoyed customers I am able to survive in this atrocious business environment. However I really don't see where this latest price rise is going to take me, other than down a very rocky road. Nigel Woolliscroft OLD BROWN JUG Newcastle-under-Lyme This post replies to this thread |
|
| John H Baker (F2C) 08/09/2008 08:59:58 |
Pub crisis: Five close every day How can anybody in the trade not be sure that the smoking ban was a big contributor? The figures and the dates say it how it is. In 2007; when there was no credit crunch; and as Phil said there has always been cheap supermarket alcohol for at least the past 10 years; pub closures leaped astronomically. There is no doubt tho that this year the credit crunch has been another blow to landlords but this would have been lessened if smokers were welcome, standing outside in all weathers to have a smoke is not welcoming. John H Baker This post replies to this thread |
|
| Peter Harvey 08/09/2008 10:56:17 |
RE: Pub crisis: Five close every day Ring your Bell what rubbish, we should all get together and make them listen with a bit more impact than ringing a bell, its not a game. I have been saying this for so long that I think its only me who wants to keep my pub, we should all stand together and tell this government what we think of it, They seem to me to be working with the supermarkets to close us all down, Browns mob keep on about binge drinking yet they let supermarkets sell beer at less than the cost of water stinks of a conspiracy to me. and this Labour Government are the worst we have ever had since Maggie ruined the country. This post replies to this thread |
|
