Scottish figures show more restaurants fewer pubs

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Scottish figures show more restaurants fewer pubs
Figures show licensed restaurants climbing but pub numbers falling.

Figures from the Scottish Executive show the number of licensed restaurants climbing but pub numbers falling slightly.

The number of licensed restaurants in Scotland rose by 64% between 1980 and 2005 but the number of pub licences fell last year.

The statistics showed that the total number of new licence applications fell during the same 12-month period.

Patrick Browne, chief executive of the Scottish Beer and Pub Association told the BBC: "It is very significant that the number of public house, hotel, restricted hotel and entertainment licensed premises have all fallen over a 12-month period.

Over the last quarter of a century the biggest growth in the number of licensed premises has been amongst supermarkets, off licences and convenience stores​Patrick Browne, chief executive of the Scottish Beer and Pub Association.

"Over the last quarter of a century the biggest growth in the number of licensed premises has been amongst supermarkets, off licences and convenience stores, indeed today more than 50% of the alcohol sold across the UK is sold through these type of outlets.

"Less than 50% of the turnover of a typical pub now comes from the sale of alcohol with the majority coming from food, soft drink and vending machine sales."

He added: "One thing I hope these figures do achieve is to end the naive debate about the need for a legislatively imposed moratorium on the issuing of new licences.

"These figures show that the market in alcohol and the choices made by the customer about how and where they buy their alcohol has more of an impact on the number of licensed premises than anything else."

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