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Peer blames Muslims for pub decline

A Tory peer has levelled some of the blame for Britain’s pub decline on rising teetotal Muslim populations, saying the environment is “exceptionally hard” for publicans.

Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, a former long-serving Conservative MP who has sat in the Lords since 2000, said that the “tides of history” and “socio-economic factors” – including a growing number of teetotal Muslims – were more responsible for dwindling pub numbers than “rapacious” pubcos.

The Lord, a former director at big-brewer Marstons, said, “In areas of Nottingham, Leicester, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham the increase in the Muslim population, who do not drink, leads to many pub closures.

“It is exceptionally hard for a publican who has put 10 years of his life into trying to build up a business to accept the inevitabilities of these tides of history,” he said.

This explanation formed part of Lord Hodgson’s analysis of the situation facing pubs at the minute, with other points like cheap supermarket alcohol and the “inexorable rise in regulation” plaguing the pub trade.

“These are trends that defy King Canute,” he continued, “so pubs are likely to continue to close.

“The reasons for closure may be portrayed as rapacious owners increasing rent, wishing to profit by turning pubs into houses or corner stores, but the tide is turning against the ordinary pub.”

Lord Hodgson is a former director at big-brewer Marstons (Photo: Wiki)

The comments, which were criticised for “scapegoating” Muslims by the Muslim Council of Britain, were made during a House of Lords Debate on the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill.

MPs in the House of Commons recently passed the bill with an amendment to scrap the “beer-tie” – the centuries-old rule that forces leased pubs to by stock from the pub company that owns them.

The bill needs to pass through the House of Lords before it can become law.

He later told the Independent that his critics were being “slightly over-sensitive”. He said, “This is not a criticism of Muslims. I thought nearly all Muslims don’t drink, but maybe some do.”

12 responses to “Peer blames Muslims for pub decline”

  1. Michael Dable says:

    Lord Hodgson certainly has a point, when I took my first steps into the wine trade, Leicester was used a a market research city for many leading drinks companies – today it would not even be given consideration. However, other social items must be considered, also the dreadful Conservative Party error that was spear headed by Lord Young, displaying their total inability to read the small print in the EU Directive related to production and retailing.

  2. paul chapman says:

    are you sure its muslims and not the cost of alcoholic drinks and the amount of people unemployed that’s why they all go to supermarkets the monoperly the brewers have on the retail price there is a vast amount on the price at witherspoons and other pubs once brewers loose there strangle hold perhaps pubs will then stand a chance

  3. Sylvia Drummond says:

    Plenty of muslims drink but they do it at home or in their restaurants.

  4. vikram Ienger says:

    Makes absolute sense, why a Minister and a Lord cannot see this is because they are increasingly so out of touch with reality it shows in their utterances, like a beacon.
    And WHY now it is increasingly transparent, that these ‘Career Politicians’, are creating this visible divide between those of us who live in the real ‘WORLD’, their disconnect to our side of the conundrum?
    Governments are meant to rule for the entire population, rich or poor, regardless of any extenuating circumstances, that might mitigate towards any one section of the populous.
    THIS is palpably NOT the case during this Administrations duty of CARE for all those that keep falling below the SAFETY NET that are the true VICTIMS of todays misconceived and errant policies, so FAR. And this is today the truth, about how we perceive the dire situation the POLITITIONS cannot comprehend?
    Does it feel like we are all being SERVED equally?
    Are we REALLY all in IT together, or is it NOW just a sound bite, that they keep repeating to SHAME themselves every time they utter it and it shows HOW out of TOUCH they really ARE?
    YOU DECIDE!

  5. Nadia says:

    The Muslims should realize this is not their country and more pubs are welcome in those cities.If the Muslims dont like the English culture then they should live in their own country or the other solution is to mind their own business.There is a lot of Muslims in Manchester Birmingham Leeds etc so they should understand that this is not Asia.The Muslims who are religious it is a nice thing but this is a western country so these the pubs have to be open for English people.

  6. M Smith says:

    As a part of promoting British values, Muslim schools must tell pupils about drinking alcohol. Otherwise, Ofsted will revoke their license.

    Muslims are obliged to open pubs in Muslim areas and make it halal.

  7. richard says:

    what a load of b/s just look how the goverment has homed in on the public house to stopped people talking , and give then t.vs and gastro resturants , they have systematiciy destroyed the pub not a ethnic minority, wake up

  8. william legg says:

    Nonsense, the unrealistic expectations of the brewers and the public’s penchant for drugs is mostly to blame for the decline,…..not that the breweries care…won’t be too long before they don’t have to pay the light bill when only the supermarkets are left to stock their alcohol!

  9. merrily says:

    What utter nonsense. Long before the explosion of immigration and any change in the religious mix, local pub culture went into decline. In my sixties now, I can remember when neighbourhoods all had numerous pubs on their street corners and it was common to find groups of people out on ‘pub crawls’ at weekends. Pubs were friendly sociable places, where we met with friends from our own locality, often with a pianist of dubious talent esconced in a corner of the lounge bar and sing songs taking place amongst patrons. One by one they were deemed unprofitable by breweries and sold off, and we were expected to drive to get a drink. Too late it was realised that that was neither feasible, or wise, but by that time all those corner pubs were knocked down and turned into blocks of flats. And now we have another brave new generation who would rather all flock to bars in town centres, not to be sociable but to swill alcohol until heedlessness and bad behaviour set in as quickly as possible.. Places that ordinary folk, looking for just a sociable drink with their friends will avoid at all cost.

  10. John Thomson says:

    By suggesting that Muslims and their supposed aversion to alcoholic drink has anything to do with the decline in the number of pubs, Lord Hodgson is evidently oblivious to the well-known fact that many Muslims enjoy drink (as Sylvia Drummond points out) in the same way that many Jews love a bacon sandwich. By using the term ‘scapegoating’ instead of the perfectly adequate ‘blaming’, the Muslim Council shows itself to have a poor grasp of ordinary English, which comes as no surprise.

  11. Joey says:

    Here is a thought… Maybe your pubs should not be so BOOOOOOOORING….

    Nightclusb are so much better and loose the stupid restrictions on trainers and coloured hair and alternative styles.

    Encourage wild moshpits stage diving and crowd surfing with live bands, band kareoke, foam parties, dentists chairs, jelly wrestling, wet t shirt competeiion, poker and quiz nights etc so all people mix, how about non alcoholic nightclubs for adolescents etc

  12. Mark says:

    Till this day I still think that the “public smoking” ban had a huge impact on pubs.

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