Raising a glass to an increase
NEWCASTLE now has more pubs and bars than it did in 2010, figures have revealed.
The city has bucked the trend seen across the north as a whole, which has lost one in every nine of its pubs and bars over the last 10 years.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the region saw its total number of drinking spots fall from more than 11,100 in 2010, to around 9,900 in 2020.
Most people agree the decline is at least partly due to changes in regulation, with moves such as the smoking ban and the crackdown on drink-driving undoubtedly having an impact on the industry.
However, a big part of it is also to do with major changes in the ways we drink and socialise – with it now often being cheaper to drink at home, and consumer tastes becoming more eclectic.
While Newcastle has not escaped the long-term decline in pubs and bars seen across the north, the number of venues in the city has actually been increasing more recently.
Simon Hubbard is the manager of the Mean Eyed Cat in Newcastle – a small pub he and the owners converted from a newsagents in 2018.
He said: “Newcastle has had a massive thing with micro pubs and little independent pubs opening.
“It has so many different styles of pub and little pop-up food places and all sorts now, it is great.
“For such a small place there are loads. I think that is quite a nice thing about the city really.”
However, the boom in pubs and bars – along with an explosion in the number of restaurants – has meant the city’s economy is becoming more dependent on hospitality.
That is not necessarily a good thing, considering the sector has been particularly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Thom Hetherington, the chief executive of Northern Restaurant and Bar, the biggest hospitality exhibition in the north of England, said: “There has
never been a harder time to run a pub, even before Covid. You put Covid on top and it is frankly ridiculous.
“It is a very, very competitive market and pubs are having to be very smart and work very hard to survive.”
Mr Hetherington says the last year has been “decimating” for the industry, and warned: “I think if things don’t change we will see a lot of closures.”
It is not all doom and gloom, however – venues like the Mean Eyed Cat have seen a huge amount of support from loyal customers.
The pub decided to turn into a merch shop and printed T-shirts, mugs and growlers that could be bought on their website.
Mr Hubbard said: “People basically saw it as a way of supporting, so that went absolutely mad.
“I could not believe the response for it, it was great. It gave us a good boost in the middle of last year and you could tell people were doing it to help out.
“That was a really nice aspect to it and without that I think it would have been a bit more grim last year.”
The pandemic has also led to a surge in pubs and bars stepping up to help out their communities. Mr Hubbard added: “Dave and Julie the owners have put a massive emphasis on anything we can do for charity, so a couple of times we have done a foodbank collection.
“We are always trying to give back in any way that we can.
“As soon as we are open again we will be straight back on it.”
The Mean Eyed Cat are not alone – pubs and bars across the north have been doing what they can.
Mr Hetherington said: “Bars and pubs have been at the forefront in this crisis of putting their hand up and trying to help from day one.
“The thing I find unbelievable and really heartening is this has continued, even over nine months of grinding, crushing unfairness and difficulty for bars and pubs.
“However many times they get kicked, they just keep putting their hand up and going ‘we will do that.’
“I think it is a nice story which has come out of this that if anything it has reconnected bars and pubs to their communities because they have helped.”