But what should concern every politician, whatever their party, is that we are now seeing well-run, community pubs — the kind people love and rely on — struggling to make the operating model work.
So here is the uncomfortable question: if pubs provide so much value to the economy and society, why are we steadily increasing the burdens placed upon them?
Pubs are one of the country’s most important sources of entry-level and first-time employment. For many young people, their first job is in a pub — learning the habit of work: turning up on time, working in a team, taking responsibility and dealing with the public. Those aren’t “pub skills”. They’re life skills that build confidence and employability.
Pubs also offer genuine progression. A glass collector can become bar staff, then supervisor, assistant manager and general manager — and ultimately, with modest investment, run a business of their own. That pathway from first job to ownership is rare and it matters.
Cultural asset
They are also social infrastructure: places where communities connect, loneliness is reduced and local groups fundraise. And pubs don’t just support the people behind the bar. They sustain a wide supply chain — farmers, brewers, wholesalers, logistics, cleaners, glassware and food producers. They are a cultural asset too: central to Britain’s identity, tourism and live music.
Despite all this, pubs are being squeezed on multiple fronts. Wage rises have consistently exceeded inflation. Employment costs rise not only through wages but through employer national insurance and pensions – not to mention the increased costs resulting from new Employee Rights Legislation. Business rates remain a fixed cost regardless of profitability — with revaluation outcomes that often mean pubs pay more, not less. Meanwhile supermarkets can sell alcohol at extremely low margins, pulling consumption away from supervised social settings and into homes.
The wider economy has changed too. Bricks-and-mortar hospitality is heavily taxed, while much online retail activity doesn’t face a comparable burden. We have an analogue tax system in a digital age — and locally rooted SMEs, unable to offshore profits or restructure tax, become easy targets.
The consequences are visible long before a closure notice goes up: staff hours cut, training reduced, opening times shortened, investment deferred. That means fewer jobs, fewer opportunities for young people, and ultimately lower VAT receipts as trading hours shrink.
Britain has already lost a substantial proportion of its pubs since 2020. If we continue down this path, the direction of travel is obvious. Which brings us back to the central question: is this an unintended consequence… or an intended outcome?
Honesty and clarity needed
Perhaps ministers believe the UK simply has “too many pubs”. Perhaps they believe the number should keep falling. If that is their view, the industry deserves honesty and clarity: what is the target number, what closure rate is acceptable, and what is the plan for the jobs, skills and communities that disappear with them?
There is also a serious public health and policing debate around alcohol. Alcohol harm is costly and damaging, with estimates suggesting NHS costs in England of around £4bn to 5bn per year, and wider crime costs running into many billions.
Those realities cannot be ignored. But closing pubs does not remove alcohol consumption from society — it changes where and how it happens. Lockdowns showed what that looks like: drinking shifts into homes. If we shrink pubs without thinking through the consequences, we risk more solitary drinking and less supervised consumption.
So what should the Government do instead? If it genuinely wants economic growth, more people in work and stronger communities, pubs should be treated as delivery partners — not excluded from industrial strategy support, energy relief and investment funding that other sectors can access.
What we need is a focused, realistic plan in the hundreds of millions, not the tens of billions:
- Stabilise business rates for pubs with a published roadmap to reach a further 20p reduction in the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure multiplier.
- Reduce the cost of employment through targeted relief on employer National Insurance or an enhanced Employment Allowance tied to job creation and training.
- Level the playing field by strengthening the draught duty differential, rewarding beer sold in supervised social settings rather than incentivising consumption at home.
These are practical measures. They are explainable. They are deliverable. And they would help pubs create jobs, train people, support high streets and rebuild confidence.
If we believe pubs are part of Britain’s future, the policy environment should reflect that. If the Government believes there should be far fewer pubs, it should say so — and publish the plan. Either way, drift is not a strategy.
