37 pubs are disappearing every month
ABOUT 37 pubs were lost permanently each month last year, research shows.
Property experts Altus Group found there were 40,617 boozers liable for business rates at the end of December – a fall of 446.
The decline covers pubs in England and Wales that have been demolished or converted to other uses.
Despite the impact of Covid, the reduction was lower than the 473 in 2019.
But the figures do not include pubs that are standing empty with little hope of ever reopening.
Robert Hayton, at Altus Group, said: “Pubs and restaurants bore the brunt of coronavirus restrictions but proved remarkably resilient aided by Government interventions such as furlough, grants, rates relief and cheap loans.”