The referendum, held on 23 June 2016, triggered a period of political and economic change that has continued to shape the operating environment for hospitality businesses.
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While Brexit has not been the only pressure facing pubs over the past decade, with Covid, energy prices, inflation, wage rises, business rates and tax changes all adding to costs, operators have repeatedly pointed to its impact on recruitment and trade friction.
For many pubs, the most visible legacy has been the change to the labour market.
Hospitality had long relied on EU workers across kitchens, front of house teams, management roles and late night venues, particularly in major cities.
The end of free movement, followed by a points based immigration system, reduced access to that labour pool at a time when the sector was already trying to rebuild after the pandemic.
UKHospitality chair Kate Nicholls told The Morning Advertiser (MA) the past decade would be remembered less for the UK’s changing relationship with Europe and more for the “string of crises” facing hospitality operators.
She said: “While the Brexit referendum was undoubtedly one of the biggest moments in the UK’s history, the last 10 years for hospitality operators will be remembered for the string of crises facing our sector, rather than our changing relationship with the EU.
“Of course, there were significant impacts from leaving the EU, including on recruitment and retention. It was one of many factors behind the significant staffing crisis that affected the sector in the early 2020s, where vacancies in the sector reached as high as 170,000.”
Nicholls said the tightening of the immigration system over the past six years had made overseas recruitment “a costly and complex option”, putting it out of reach for many operators.
She added: “Employment remains a significant challenge for hospitality businesses and, 10 years on, that’s due to the rising cost of employment.”
Labour flexibility
Tim Skinner, who operates a number of London pubs, said the biggest lasting impact of Brexit had been the loss of flexibility in the labour market.
He said: “Before Brexit, if you needed chefs, bar staff or supervisors, you had access to a large pool of talented, hardworking people from across Europe.”
Skinner said in one rural, food led pub business he previously operated, the company had struggled to recruit enough chefs locally and increasingly hired from Europe, with accommodation offered as part of the role.
He added: “I was running two busy food led rural pubs at the time and those teams were fundamental to keeping the businesses trading seven days a week. Then the tap was turned off.
“The reality was there wasn’t a queue of British chefs waiting to step into those roles. Demand for hospitality was still there. Customers still wanted to eat. The challenge was finding enough skilled people to cook the food.”
Skinner said the business had to adapt by putting management teams into kitchens, simplifying menus and reducing opening days.
“One pub went from seven days a week to five. Another at times traded just four days a week. Not because demand wasn’t there, but because the people weren’t,” he said.
Skinner said one positive outcome had been a greater focus on developing young local talent, with operators placing more emphasis on training, apprenticeships and career progression.
However, he warned that building skilled teams takes time.
He said: “I genuinely think the industry is better at training than it was 10 years ago. Apprenticeships have improved. Career development has improved. Operators invest more time in people because they have to.
“But training someone into a skilled chef takes years, not weeks.”
Supply chain
Brexit has also had an impact on supply chains, particularly for food and drink businesses trading with the EU.
Additional paperwork, checks and administrative costs have created further complexity for some suppliers, brewers and food led operators.
Reuters reported that UK food exports to the EU fell by more than 23% between 2021 and 2025, with small food producers among those affected by veterinary inspections, customs paperwork and higher costs.
For pubs, the impact has been less about one single shock and more about the layering of costs and disruption across the wider food and drink supply chain.
Imported ingredients, European wines and specialist products have all been affected by a more complex trading environment, while businesses have had to manage price rises across food, drink, energy and labour at the same time.
Skinner said supply chains had become more complicated, with “more paperwork, more administration, more friction”.
He added: “Nothing catastrophic in isolation, but death by a thousand cuts is still death by a thousand cuts. For independent operators and brewers without dedicated compliance teams, those additional burdens are very real.”
Cost pressures
The anniversary comes as pubs continue to operate under significant cost pressure.
The British Beer and Pub Association said 161 pubs closed across England, Scotland and Wales in the first three months of this year, equal to almost two a day.
Trade bodies have argued that pubs need support across business rates, beer duty, VAT and wider regulation if they are to remain viable.
Since the Brexit vote, the sector has also faced pandemic restrictions, a sharp rise in energy costs, high inflation, increased employer national insurance contributions and repeated rises to the national living wage.
Skinner said Brexit was not solely responsible for the pressures facing hospitality today, but had reduced flexibility in a sector already dealing with repeated cost shocks.
He said: “Most operators I know have spent the last decade constantly pivoting, adapting and rewriting budgets wondering why the maths isn’t mathing.”
What comes next
The anniversary also comes as the UK and EU look again at their trading relationship.
Nicholls said there was an opportunity for hospitality to benefit from any future UK EU reset.
She said: “The agreement to pursue renewed youth mobility schemes has yet to materialise and would be positive, as well as any agreements that facilitate smoother trade between the UK and EU.”
For pubs, the priorities are likely to remain focused on easing recruitment pressures, reducing costs and improving access to products and people.
A closer food and drink agreement could help reduce friction for suppliers, while a more flexible approach to youth mobility could support employers looking to rebuild their workforce.
Skinner said operators did not want to spend the next 10 years arguing about Brexit, but wanted practical reform.
He said: “What the sector would welcome is a practical reset. Easier youth mobility schemes. Sensible visa routes for skilled hospitality workers. Less bureaucracy.
“And closer to home, reforms that allow pubs to invest and grow, including VAT more in line with our European neighbours and meaningful business rates reform.”
He added: “Pubs are resilient. They always find a way.
“But the lesson of the last decade is that every extra layer of cost, regulation or restriction removes a little more flexibility from businesses that rely on people. And hospitality, more than most industries, is fundamentally a people business.”
