Pub sales suffer in wake of riots

The rioting that took place across the UK last week led to an unwelcome dent in trade for pubs in affected areas, with some sites reporting sales falls of up to 40%.

That's according to the Publican's Morning Advertiser survey of pubco bosses, who say the effects of the disturbances were felt beyond riot-hit regions in the days after the disturbances.

Major cities across the UK including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Liverpool and Wolverhampton faced a barrage of rioters and looters, who took to the streets during four evenings of disturbances. And many pubs closed early after advice from police, who feared more violence.

Roy Ellis, founder of the Revolution vodka-bar operator Inventive Leisure, said the company was badly affected in London, Birmingham and Manchester with trade down 20%.

He said: "We don't have many businesses in the vicinity of the looting — it's just that people were more subdued in the cities of London, Liverpool and Birmingham and it was quieter over last weekend.

"However, we were right in the middle of it in Clapham Junction. We were very fortunate there [not to have the business damaged].

"The knock-on effect has been detrimental. I'm hoping this week is a bridging week to get back to normal rather than the start of a long, subdued period."

Glendola Leisure saw the biggest year-on-year decrease in business last week at Waxy O'Connor's in Manchester, where sales were down 30%.

Weekly trade was down 13% at the Rainforest Cafe in London's Shaftesbury Avenue, while elsewhere business was flat or down only slightly year-on-year, said managing director Alex Salussolia.

Two Glendola outlets shut early last Tuesday and Wednesday — the Prince Alfred in Bayswater, west London, which also suffered a broken window, and the Star & Garter in Putney, also in west London.

"It could have been a lot worse, to be honest," said Salussolia.

Intertain, which runs 40 bars including the Walkabout chain, had to close a number of sites in London, Liverpool, Wolverhampton, Manchester, Enfield and Birmingham on police advice.

John Leslie, chief executive at the company, said the closures early last week had some impact on trade, but the majority of businesses across the estate focus on weekend trade.

He said: "It could have been a lot worse. Losing the international football match [between England and the Netherlands] was a shame. But weekend trading was back to normal August levels."

Closed sites​

The 11-strong London-based cocktail-bar operator Be at One reported a 40% drop in takings on Monday and Tuesday last week, but said trade picked up over the rest of the week.

Its sites remained undamaged despite its Clapham Junction outlet coming perilously close to the riots with a Carphone Warehouse 20 yards away being smashed up.

It was forced to close the venue last Monday, but all other sites remained open.

"We had a decent Thursday and the weekend was fine too," said co-founder Rhys Oldfield.

"The volume of people was lower, but there was a sense that people were not going to get down about it.

"I think people who lived locally were very nervous about what happened and concerned about their homes. Overall, it was very unfortunate, but we just have to move on."

Charlie McVeigh owns the London-based three-strong Draft House, which includes a site in Northcote Road in Clapham, south London.

He said: "Over the evenings of the Monday and the Tuesday we estimated that we lost a full day's takings at the Northcote site. The site was closed on both nights under police guidance, with the staff extremely nervous.

"Both the other two sites were very quiet during the period as people stayed at home in the evenings. However all three sites were back to normal by last Thursday."

Trade pick-up​

Gresham Inns, which runs a wine bar on Leicester Square, saw pre-bookings in the week of the riots down 80%. However, trade picked up for the weekend, with sales back to normal.

Owner Will Clayton said: "We have got to wait and see what the longer-term effects are and whether that impacts on the tourist trade."

Around 30 of the 1,300 Admiral Taverns pubs closed on police advice at some point during the trouble.

Managing director Kevin Georgel said: "In other areas where licensees probably did feel frightened they stayed open.

"They weren't going to let the minority spoil it for the majority."

He added: "We had some damage to a few pubs, one or two in London, one or two in Birmingham and West Bromwich and one in Liverpool.

"All our BDMs did a sterling job and were very active and visible with their licensees in the aftermath."