The latest Hospitality Market Monitor from CGA by NIQ and AlixPartners showed there was a total of 98,746 pub, bars and restaurants operating at the end of June — 374 fewer than at the start of the year.
Around two premises were estimated to have closed every day for the first six months of 2025 with 62 net closures a month.
It means the sector is now 14.2% smaller (net) than it was at the start of the Covid pandemic in March 2020, having recorded more than 16,000 net closures in the ensuing five-year period.
Devastating blow
Food-led and independent venues were found to have been hardest hit while the managed segment proved more resilient amid rising costs and continuously tough trading conditions.
Responding to the report’s findings UKHospitality (UKH) chair Kate Nicholls said: “These latest figures are a devastating blow, showing in the starkest terms the impact of Government-driven cost pressures.
“Two hospitality venues closing every day is not just a statistic; it represents the hollowing out of our high streets and communities. Independent businesses, the lifeblood of our sector, are being disproportionately crushed under the weight of unfair taxation and soaring employment costs.
“The result is a sector in survival mode, where investment is at a standstill. Businesses are being forced to focus on just keeping the lights on, and growth is secondary.
“This cannot continue. The Government has pushed hospitality to the breaking point, and we now run the very real risk of being taxed out of existence.”
Decisive action
Ahead of the upcoming autumn budget, the trade body has called on the Government to take “decisive action” to relieve the burden on hospitality.
Nicholls added: “[The sector] should be a powerful engine for economic growth and job creation across the entire country.
“The Government must lower the business rates that punish high street businesses, fix the poorly designed National Insurance Contributions that penalise job creation, and cut the rate of VAT to stimulate investment and align us with our European counterparts.
“Without these changes, we will see this alarming trend of closures accelerate, costing thousands more jobs and decimating high streets across the UK.”
