Is the end of the great British pub

Fri, 24 Jul 2009

The rate of pub closures in Britain is at an all time high with 52 pubs closing on average in the last six months.

The recession is to blame for the downturn which has led to 24,000 job losses so far across the pub sector .

The British Beer and Pub Association said that recent tax increases on beer were a contributing factor to an already struggling drinks industry . Add to this the smoking ban and competition from supermarkets selling cheaply priced beers, the pubs were going to lose out.

However the Association noted that pubs which served food were fairing better with an average of one closure per week. Pubs that closed were ones that sold just drinks.

David Long, chief executive of the Association said, "The recession is proving extremely tough for Britain's pubs.

"However, those economic pressures have been made much worse by a government that has continued to pile on tax and regulatory burdens. The last two budgets have seen a 20 per cent increase in beer tax, which alone has added more than 600 million pounds to our tax bill," he said

Long added, "Government now needs to listen to the pub sector in the same way it listens to other sectors suffering this level of job losses."
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