89 pubs ‘vanished’ since May

Altus Group figures from May this year revealed an average of six pubs a week (total of 384) had ‘vanished’​ during the pandemic. Statistics to the end of June meant this number rose by 89 to 473.

The pubs were first ordered to close in March 2020, there were 40,886 in England and Wales including those that were vacant and being offered to let.

Following three national lockdowns and a plethora of restrictions on the trade, as of 30 June 2021, the number had fallen slightly to 40,413.

Region results

When broken down into regions, the south east saw the largest change in pub numbers, down 81 from March 2020.

The West Midlands saw the second largest change in number of pubs with 57, followed by Wales with 56 and the north west with 53.

The East Midlands saw a loss of 47, the east was 45 region and Yorkshire/Humberside saw a loss of 42 pubs.

The region that saw the fewest number of pubs disappearing was London with 27, followed by the north east with 30 then the south west with 35.

Also, compared to previous years, in the year to 31 December 2018, the number of pubs was at 41,536 – down 914 on the previous year.

Torrid time

For the calendar year ending 2019, this was down a further 473 to 41,063 and for last year, the number fell to 40,617 – a drop of 446.

Altus figures to 30 June 2021, the number of pubs was at 40,413 – 204 fewer than the previous year. Therefore, the total number of pubs lost equated to 2,037 in the past three and a half years.

Altus Group UK president of expert services Robert Hayton said: “Pubs endured a torrid time during the pandemic but proved remarkably resilient.

“Aided by Government interventions such as furlough, grants, rates relief and liquidity in the form of cheap loans helped keep the ‘pilot light on’ for their reopening.”