Not just here for the beer . . . how pub grub is saving locals
THE rise of the gastropub may have saved thousands of struggling traditional locals, according to figures released yesterday.
They showed that the number of pubs in the country has gone up for the first time in a dozen years, boosted by the growing popularity of pub food.
And while families and individuals are spending less on going out for a drink, people are devoting more of their household budget to going out to eat – often in pubs.
The breakdown from the Office for National Statistics may mark a turning point for the pub trade after miserable years in which numbers of all kinds of pubs and bars seemed doomed to decline.
Hugh Stickland of the ONS said: ‘While smaller pubs have been struggling to survive in recent years, bigger pubs have been growing in number. This growth has been driven by food rather than drink and we have seen a big rise in the number of people employed as pub kitchen and waiting staff.
‘The latest year, however, shows the first rise in total numbers since before the financial crisis, with growth in pubs of all sizes. We will have to wait to see if this marks a revival for smaller locals.’ The stock of pubs across the UK has fallen by a quarter, from around 52,000 at the turn of the century to a little over 39,000 last year.
Pubs have been under pressure from the availability of cheap supermarket alcohol; the diminishing likelihood that people will drink and drive; and legislation such as the ban on smoking in bars.
The rate of closures accelerated after 2008 – with the rise of social media thought to have led to fewer young people going to the pub.
The ONS figures show there were 51,120 pubs and bars in 2007 but 39,130 in 2019. However, between 2018 and 2019 numbers grew by 325. The number of small pubs, with under ten staff, went up by 85.
In 2007 fewer than 30 per cent of pub workers were kitchen or waiting staff; last year it was 43.8 per cent. The number employed in pubs went up to 457,000 last year against 426,000 in 2007.