England and Wales lose 50 pubs per month in first half of 2024, data shows



England and Wales lose 50 pubs per month in first half of 2024, data shows

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/england-and-wales-lose-50-pubs-per-month-in-first-half-of-2024-data-shows/

by insomnimax_99

25 comments
  1. Transporting liquid is energy intensive

    We’re trying to transition from abundance to scarcity

  2. Is anyone surprised? No one can afford it. We all weep for our loss of historic public houses.. yet we do everything we can do prevent the very next generation from being able to afford drinking or eating in them.

    We deserve this.

  3. There used to be 10 decent pubs within walking distance of my house (say 15 years ago). Now I’ve got one real ale microbrewery, the old cricket club and a pizza bar that’s full off wankers every night. The pubs that used to be there are now multi occupancy residential, vape shop, a couple of shit takeaways and a polish supermarket. 21st century (nothern) England

  4. Not surprising. I’m a higher rate tax payer and can’t afford to drink in my local any more. It’s nearly £7 a pint. I’m actually not paying higher rate anymore because I quit my job in June. I’d stopped calling in for a few points way before then though. Drinking in pubs, especially in cities, just isn’t affordable any more.

  5. Pubs are a huge part of our culture and should be protected/use encouraged. They are a great social hub for smaller communities

  6. Absolute travesty. This country needs more third spaces for people to socialise. And it isn’t even that pubs are unviable in a fair market place – they’re paying disproportionately high business rates (in England), getting held over barrel by greedy offshore PubCos, and getting ready to be hit again by nanny state intervention with duty rises and outdoor smoking bans. Nevermind all of the other factors, like rising costs, that they share with other businesses.

    Any other country would try to support such an iconic industry (that contributes £34bn to the economy and employs 1million + people). But in Britain we seem to want to let them suffer.

  7. We were chatting about this a few days ago (ironically while at the pub).

    Over the past twenty years several pubs in my town have closed. But in that time several others have opened so now we have more than we did originally. The town has grown a fair bit in this time so you could argue that per head we have lost out. However thats not really the case.

    Most of ones that closed were small, they were all old style ‘boozers’, did not serve food, were not historically significant in any way, a couple were flat roofed monstrosities and none of them were what you would call family friendly.

    The new ones are generally much larger, all serve food, all are family friendly, we have gained lounge style bars, modern pub/restaurants and a sports pavilion. There is a lot more variety and we have more of a choice in what we can do.

    I dont think the town we live in has lost out. In fact it has gained overall. But thats not the case everywhere. There is a village pub that we used to walk to a few times a year. It was always fairly busy when we visited but a couple of years ago it closed down and is now a house. That village no longer has a pub.

  8. People will complain but I’m sorry there are more than enough pubs about in this country. Even a tiny village with no shops will have a pub or two.

    Yes costa have increased but also drinking culture is on the decline and that is only a good thing overall.

  9. The government can’t let this keep happening. The fabric of our culture is eroding in so many aspects. For fuck’s sake don’t increase alcohol tax and let pubs decide what their policies are on smoking. This is only going to continue unless labour do more.

  10. We can’t go on losing more and more and more third spaces for people to socialize and meet other people in.

    Too many people are already too isolated and lonely and can’t afford to hang out at their local pubs and let their hair down with other human beings.

    This is terrible for peoples’ social lives and there is seemingly just nothing replacing the places people would go to hang out.

    Life is going to just get more and more miserable with things continuing down this route.

  11. Business rates relief needs to be withdrawn gradually – whilst the tax is in desperate need of reform and essentially need lowering I don’t think it’s related to offering 75% discount in the hospitality and leisure industry.

    Going from 75% relief to 0% in April would be a struggle for a lot of businesses so I can certainly see a strong argument for removing it over 2-3 years in aid of supporting businesses to adapt.

  12. Drinking at home is far cheaper. You can smoke, food can be delivered, and streaming services are numerous. Gaming is huge. There’s no coked up dickheads, or violence. No cab fares and no waiting to be served. You don’t even need a shower or to change. You can always get a seat. It’s a no-brainer. We’re losing pubs for the same reasons we’re losing the high street. Cost, convenience, and choice. People can communicate and talk to their friends and family all the time. The day of the single landline and having to actually meet up is long gone. If you want to pull, there’s Tinder. The pub’s essential services have been superceded. It’s not all about cost, it’s just the pub is the Blockbuster of the hospitality industry. Cinemas are dead too.

  13. If people have not caught on yet, the government doesn’t want pubs, it wants you healthy, so you are not a burden on the NHS.

  14. Does somewhere have the data from the last 30 years? To see if this is unusual.

    I thought restaurants, pubs, clubs, and bars had a notoriously high failure/turnover rate.

    edit: Just google it and there are identical stories of this happening last year. Need to see the rate over time with a similar time frame showing opening of new pubs and bars.

  15. This has nothing to do with smoking bans.

    It’s got everything to do with people cutting back, not least younger generations who don’t really go out drinking as much.

    Plus pints cost a fucking ridiculous amount.

  16. I’m surprised there are any pubs left when you see stat headlines like this over the past few years. Then again it perhaps actually shows the sheer number of pubs we have..

  17. People are drinking less, somehow 6 quid a pint is standard. Microwaved food, kids blasting shite out of loads, why bother?

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