Inflation is at the bottom of the cup: pubs in Great Britain are also in crisis

Two months ago, the fire. the The most crooked pub in England, “The Crooked House” From the eighteenth century on West Midlands, charred by fire. To a collective shock, though, the pub had already been sold to two investors, who are now suspected of causing the fire, so as to save money on disposing of the pub and converting it. The flood of protests on Twitter. Popular motorcycle to rebuild The crooked house “brick by brick”. After all, pubs in the UK and Ireland are the people’s churches, with “bands”, in addition to carpets, “so you can also have a good conversation there,” he said. William Blake. Where you don’t just drink (a lot of) beer or play compulsively a game of darts like in London Fields by Martin Amis. Because, for the English, this is also the public house.

But now, we are increasingly being kicked out of this home. According to the real estate company’s data altos group, 383 pubs have already closed in England and Wales in the first six months of 2023. That’s a number very close to the whole of 2022, when the Covid emergency was the hardest: 386. In practice, we’re averaging two pubs a day closing for good and turning into flats Or offices or stores. The situation is particularly worrying in Wales, where 52 breweries went out of business in the first half of this year. There is a similar trend in two other areas of the country, the North West England and London areas albeit interminable, both with 46 lockdowns.

Bars have been declining for years

The number of pubs in England is Declining steadily for years: She was 60k in 2000, now we’re at 45k. This time, there is aggravated inflation and an energy crisis, which has devastated many places. However, after the Covid explosion, the British government has greatly helped pubs and restaurants, and not just with an influx of money during lockdowns. Even today, local residents enjoy a strong discount on bills of up to 75%, up to a maximum of 110,000 pounds per year (about 125,000 euros). This bonus, which costs the executive approximately 2.5 billion euros, is scheduled to disappear from the spring of 2024. So Chris Josey, CEO of Admiral Taverns.urged the government Rishi Sunak “To prolong the procedure, otherwise there may be a massacre in the English pubs.” He adds: “With energy costs rising by 80% compared to the previous year, in a period characterized by low growth, high inflation rates, and high interest rates – Alex Probyn of Altos Group “Next year, the last thing managers will need is an average increase in expenses equal to £12,385 (about €15,000, editor).”

Citizen crisis

The main reasons for the decline in population and the closure of many pubs lie specifically in England and Wales The impact of the economic crisis on citizens With the high cost of living. If the general inflation rate has now fallen, with difficulty, to 6.7%, the inflation rate in food (and alcohol) has also reached 20% in recent months and is still high (about 10%). In London a pint of beer has also become very expensive 8 pounds (about 9 euros), and in the post-Covid era, many English people are going to the pub more rarely than in the past. Then there is the generational and cultural issue: crisis or not, and the statistics are in hand, with young Britons frequenting traditional beer pubs far less often than their parents and grandparents. Finally, due to Brexit and the harsh “Australian” points-based immigration system, many places are short on staff, which were filled with many young Europeans before Brexit and the pandemic, and whose numbers have now declined.

In London, at least in its huge “centre”, the emergency is invisible. Bars are often crowded, especially after work or on weekends, even with tourists. Problems arise when you leave posh or crowded areas and enter the suburbs. Here are the places, especially the independent ones and not part of the big chains like Wetherspoons or StonegateIn order to survive, they cannot raise prices much more, since they rely mainly on local customers. Therefore, they struggle more to survive.

But the big chains are not in good shape either. So much so that they raise the prices of beer, wine, and spirits when venues are busiest, on weekends, in the evening, or during the broadcast of major sporting events. The decision that has caused a sensation across the Channel is by the Stonegate Group, the country’s largest, which operates around 4,500 pubs, bars and restaurants, such as the chain ““Slug and Lettuce” and Yeats, As many as 800, as well as dozens, have been put up for sale Wetherspoons. The measure stipulates that pints and glasses of alcoholic beverages will be charged an additional fee of 20 pence (less than 25 euro cents) per drink. “We decided this way because in the busiest hours of our clubs we need more resources to pay the wages of bartenders, bouncers, cleaners…”. you are welcome in “Unhappy hour“From English pubs.