Pub shutdowns are making all our communities poorer, says CAMRA
FOUR out of five people in the UK have experienced a local pub closure in the last five years, writes Neville Grundy.
A massive 80% of Britons who expressed an opinion have witnessed at least one pub close, and 21% have seen five or more close, according to new research conducted by YouGov. Additionally, CAMRA’s own statistics show that 18 pubs close per week, with the hardest hit areas in London and the Midlands.
These figures reveal the huge obstacles facing pubs, which are struggling under a triple whammy of high beer duty, rapidly rising business rates and VAT.
As a result, a third of the price of your pint goes straight to the Chancellor.
CAMRA is calling on the Government to abandon any upcoming increases to the tax paid by pubs in November’s Budget. Current plans will see beer duty rise by around 2p per pint, with pubs set to lose £1,000 in business rate relief.
Pubs are very important to our national economy, paying £23.1bn to the Treasury annually. They also provide a wealth of social benefits to individuals and communities, bringing people together and making them happier, better connected and more trusting.
CAMRA’s national chair, Jackie Parker, said: “The latest YouGov findings, coupled with our own pub closure figures, paint a dismal picture for our pubs. As taxes continue to rise, more people are choosing to drink at home and, as a consequence, pubs are closing down. “It’s a vicious cycle. “Pub closures make us all poorer by reducing overall tax revenues raised by the pub sector and weakening community life in areas where valued pubs close.
“We are urging the Government to take action to secure the future of our pubs by relieving the tax burden.”
CAMRA Southport & West Lancs chair Doug Macadam said: “Locally, we have lost long-established pubs such as Ormskirk’s Buck I’Th’ Vine, Halton Castle and Ropers Arms, Burscough’s Red Lion and Junction Hotel, and Southport’s Shakespeare, Plough and Blundell Arms.
“Across the North West in 2018, we’ve so far lost around 10 pubs a month.” Local News
August 24-26: the Longridge Cricket Club Beer, Cider & Gin Festival, Chipping Lane, Longridge PR3 2NB (tinyurl. com/ya748jz9).
www.southport.camra.org. uk has tickets on sale for our beer festival in October (older pub articles at: tinyurl.com/ vis-pubs).