TIME AT THE BAR
Why so many of Britain’s pubs are closing their doors
SOME 18 pubs a week permanently shut their doors last year, according to data from Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).
The organisation reported a total of 985 pubs closing across the UK in 2017.
The closures are putting people out of jobs, with 17,000 fewer bar staff employed across the country than in 2015.
New statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the number of bar staff fell from 206,000 in July 2015 to 189,000 by July 2017 - a decrease of 8.3%.
The issue of pub closures isn’t new - around 18,700 pubs have shut since 1980, according to data from the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA).
But it’s not all bad news for pub owners, as the rate of closure seems to be slowing down. In 2014 CAMRA reported that 29 pubs were closing every week, compared to 18 a week last year.
The campaign group argues that beer duty, business rates and VAT are causing pubs to shut.
Beer duty increased by 42% between 2008 and 2014, when it was subject to an automatic rise of two per cent above inflation.
In recent years, though, chancellors have announced cuts and freezes to tax on beer in their budgets. Although it may have played a part, tax doesn’t tell the full story behind pub closures - which may be just as much to do with a change in our drinking behaviour. Partially, it’s down to where we drink alcohol. The amount of beer sold in the UK has remained fairly steady for the past five years, at around 27 million barrels.
However BBPA data shows that while the volume of beer in pubs and bars has been slowly decreasing, the volume sold in supermarkets and off licenses has been increasing.
More beer was bought in shops than pubs and bars for the first time in 2014 - and that’s been true ever since.
There was a 3.6% increase in shopbought beer in 2017, while 2.4% fewer pints were bought in pubs.
This change in drinking habits may be driven by the price of beer. ONS inflation statistics show that the average price of a draught pint of lager rose by 64p between 2010 and 2017 to £3.58, whereas the price of beer sold in shops has remained steady.
Another explanation behind closing pubs may simply be that we aren’t drinking as much as a country. NHS statistics show that although households are spending more money on alcohol than ever before (£19 billion in 2016), the amount we’re spending as a proportion of household income has actually fallen, from 3.8% in 1985 to just 1.6%. An annual ONS survey asks people how much they alcohol they’ve consumed in the past week. The proportion of adults who said they had drank alcohol has gradually decreased each year - from 64% in 2005 to 57% in 2017.