Pub closures spike in England and Wales

New data has revealed that 239 English and Welsh pubs were either demolished or converted for other uses in the first quarter of 2024.

The data, gathered from UK Government figures by real estate specialists Altus Group, shows that approximately 80 pubs closed per month in the period to 31 March 2024. This reveals a dramatic increase on closures/conversions of the same timeframe from last year, when around 51 shut – a 56% increase.

This means that whereas there were 39,401 pubs in England and Wales at the end of 2023, by the end of March 2024, there were 39,162.

The region to have suffered the biggest hit was North West England, which lost 35 during Q1 2024.

As for why these closures have shot up, while there are many causes that could be cited, from the cost-of-living crisis cutting consumer spending on pints to staff shortages, Altus Group’s president of property tax, Alex Probyn, said that the “fundamental issue for…is not necessarily the system but how much tax it actually generates.”

“It is a tax that has risen 49% during the last 14 years with business, across all sectors, now paying £9.48 billion a year more than in 2010,” Probyn remarked. “Whilst the pledges are welcome to drive down bills permanently for the high street, business had hoped for more detail and a timeframe in achieving this.”

Speaking with the drinks business for the June 2024 Big Interview, The Grand Tour co-presenter and pub co-owner James May gave his thoughts on closures in the sector.

Responding to criticism of comments he had made shortly before on Newsnight about how pubs were not “monuments”, he said: “All businesses have to deal with rising insurance and rising energy costs, people having less money to spend – it’s true of pubs, restaurants, garages, local shops. So I still maintain that if a pub doesn’t survive, it probably wasn’t meant to.”

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