15 years ago: 2011
In the month that London pubs battled it out to produce the capital’s best Scotch egg, support grew for the Morning Advertiser’s (MA) campaign to cut hospitality VAT to 5%, with more than 1,700 people signing its petition.
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The month was dominated by riots across London and other UK cities, with pubs forced to close, evacuate customers and protect their premises. At the Red Lion in Ealing, customers helped fight off rioters attempting to enter the pub.
The trade responded with the “Buy a Bobby a Beer” campaign, while a £3m High Street Fund was established to support small businesses affected by the unrest.
There were positive signs for beer, as CAMRA revealed 52% of UK drinkers had tried real ale, up from 37% in 2006, while the number of UK breweries had risen to more than 800.
Heineken also unveiled two-thirds pint glasses ahead of new regulations allowing pubs to serve the measure from October.
And in Staffordshire, one publican responded to being refused permission for a village shop by installing a vending machine outside his pub instead, selling everything from bacon and eggs to 40 gallons of milk a week.
10 years ago: 2016
August 2016 began with a Dublin pub making headlines after putting a picture of Donald Trump in its urinal, with the manager saying it made trips to the bathroom a “wee bit more entertaining”.
Back in Britain, pubs continued to face significant pressure, with CAMRA reporting 21 were closing every week. A survey found consumers blamed cheap supermarket alcohol, high taxes and pubco rents and beer prices.
London’s night-time economy was also in focus. Fabric nightclub had its licence suspended following the drug-related deaths of two 18-year-olds, prompting a campaign to save the venue that attracted more than 95,000 signatures by the end of the month.
Meanwhile, the long-awaited Night Tube launched in London, and foof safety hit the headlines when Mitchells & Butlers was fined £105,000 after inspectors discovered a mouse infestation and unhygienic kitchen conditions at a Birmingham pub.
Pokémon Go continued to influence the trade following its UK launch the previous month, with one Welsh operator temporarily renaming the Panton Arms the “Pokémon Arms” and offering players 20% off after noticing an uplift in customers.
The month ended with one pub changing its “it’s all about meat” sign to “it’s all about me” following complaints from vegetarians, an Australian venue faced criticism for advertising that “hot girls eat free”, and an African grey parrot flew into a Richmond pub garden, sitting on customers’ shoulders and stealing their chips.
5 years ago: 2021
In August 2021, JD Wetherspoon (JDW) made the largest single investment in its 41 year history, spending €33.4m on the purchase and development of Keavan’s Port, an 89 bedroom pub and hotel in Dublin.
Deal activity continued as RedCat acquired the 18 site Coaching Inn Group for a reported £50m. Admiral Taverns also completed its £222.3m acquisition of Hawthorn, taking its estate to more than 1,600 pubs.
The sector’s reopening after the Covid-19 pandemic remained difficult despite the lifting of restrictions in England the previous month. More than 200 Scottish pubs were expected to reopen for the first time since the pandemic when restrictions eased on 9 August, while night time footfall across the UK’s largest towns and cities rose following England’s Freedom Day.
Staffing remained one of the biggest obstacles to recovery. Some 267,000 hospitality workers had recently been or were self isolating during the so called “pingdemic”, while official figures showed hospitality vacancies had reached a 20 year high of 117,000.
Despite being fully open, pubs were still trading below pre pandemic levels. The BBPA predicted 60m pints would be sold over the August bank holiday weekend, 6m fewer than in 2019 and equivalent to around £25m in lost revenue.
And as the industry grappled with staff shortages and the long road back from Covid, another consequence of changing habits emerged: cashless payments were apparently “killing tips”, with more than a third of consumers saying they would not tip by card because they were unsure where the money went.