Tuesday
Jul212009
Record number of pubs closing
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 
Just had a call from GMTV. The British Beer and Pub Association will tomorrow disclose that "new research" shows a record number of pub closures.
Update on Tuesday, July 21, 2009 by
Simon Clark
Simon Clark
A spokesman for the British Beer and Pub Association added that the industry has moved on since the [smoking] ban. "The industry has adapted to the challenge. Pubs have invested £100m on outside smoking areas and there is no going back now," he said. Source: Caterer Search, 9 July 2009
Update on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 by
Simon Clark
Simon Clark
Forest's Neil Rafferty discussed pub closures on SunTalk Radio.
Update on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 by
Simon Clark
Simon Clark
ITN has the story HERE.
Reader Comments (9)
I just hope they don't skip over the smoking ban and blame just about everything else which is probably most likely.
The BBPA were the idiots who meekly accepted the start of a new dawn in the pub trade with the introduction of the smoking ban. The promise of a fresh start, new customers, more food and drink sales and profits to make the mouth water.
If they do not attach any blame the sector's misfortunes over the last two years on the smoking ban, then they are either in denial or just completely incompetant fools. Any members of this association would be well-advised to canel their subscriptions forthwith.
The BBPA sold them down the river. Bill.
It is worth one's while to read the full article. Google British Beer and Pub Assn and you will be taken to the Home Page. There are links at the top - click 'News'.
If you read the full article, you will see what is going on. It is clear that BBPA do not want to rock the Gov boat on smoking. They have put all their eggs into the basket of beer duty and hope that if they do not antagonise the Gov by mentioning smoking, they will succeed in getting duty reduced. They claim that duty in Britain is massively above duty charged on the continent, and they imply that it is that problem which is causing all the pub closures.
Manifestly, it is not so since the great upsurge in pub closures has only appeared since the implementation of the smoking ban. Also, our duties have been way above the continent for years and years.
I was treasurer of a golf club some time ago. When I examined the books, I was quite surprised to find how cheap a barrel of beer was (when broken down into 'price per pint') - including the duty. It is the massive mark up that pubcos use that is their problem. My local charges £2.60 for a pint of lager. Two miles down the road, I can get a pint of lager for £1.50.
We Foresters know that it is the smoking ban that is killing the pubs, not the duty. The BBPA are using the 'Save our Pubs' slogan for the purpose of increasing pubco profits. I do not think that the Gov will fall for it.
Tell me this, Mr. British Beer and Pub Assn, if the Gov repealed the smoking ban tomorrow, would your members leave the 'no smoking' stickers in place, or would they tear them down forthwith?
I know how I would place my bet.
"Pubs have invested £100m on outside smoking areas and there is no going back now"
Some have done a great job. But most have not. It's "stand outside in all weathers and if you're lucky here's an ashtray" at 90% of the pubs I've tried since the ban.
I don't blame them, I'm sure most haven't got the funds to do more since trade has plummeted so disastrously. But for the BBPA to imply that pub owners would all be upset if the smoking ban was overturned because of all their investment in outside areas is complete baloney.
Mind you, at this rate, soon there won't be many publicans left to complain.
Those 52 pubs created jobs, paid tax, PAYE, VAT, rates etc. Now that they have shut, it must be making a huge hole in the government coffers. However, instead of the government trying to put it right and amend the ban they just borrow more which we, our children and our grandchildren will have to pay back.
The Pubcos put up the rentals to their already struggling landlords and beer prices are rocketing. More pubs will close and more revenue will be lost.
It is not all bad news though as there are two new themed bars opening every week!!!!
A non smoking colleague at work, who does not often go to pubs, visited one the other day for a quiet evening meal with her husband and was astonished that families with very young children were in the pub when they arrived early evening and were still there, complete with overtired children at gone 9.00 pm.
This, however, is what pubs are reduced to today and the reason is that parents are more prepared to take their children rather than pay a babysitter, because the pubs are smoke free! At this rate the pubs would make more money as nursery schools, with drinks on the side for the parents!
The start of the ban it was said that we would lose huge numbers of pubs, particularly those that were traditional and what real pubs were about, and it has happened, just as so many of us predicted.
With regard to the outdoor areas, I think the pubs would still get their monies worth when you consider how many antis complain in the good weather that they can't sit outside in comfort or 'fresh air' to enjoy their drinks because there are people smoking!
When will these morons wake up to the fact that outside air is not 'fresh' it is heavily polluted with all kinds of toxins, most, if not all, of which are a darn sight more harmful than cigarette smoke, first or second hand!
Isn't it strange that the rest Europe also have a recession and yet countries like Germany, Belgium and Spain do not have anything like the amount of closures as we do. Is it possible that the reason is that they allow smoking in pubs and clubs?
During recessions in the past, pubs/clubs did NOT close down, apart from the normal rate of closures and new ones opening.
This scale of this destruction is due ONLY to the smoking ban, and that point should be drilled home at every opportunity, and the proof is in the past, and cannot be denied.
How right you are Lyn. My favourite local pub used to have a quiet cosy, smoking, area where an evening meal could be enjoyed in tranquility. Not any more. Since the ban it has opened up the whole of the pub to families. So we get the little noisy darlings everywhere. I thought I would miss the post prandial fag when the ban came in. I miss the silence more. An unintended consequence of a stupid law and one that has driven me away.