Iconic UK pubs bankrupt

À DAY

Rising costs and falling sales: The purchasing power crisis is hitting iconic British pubs hard, which last year saw the number of bankruptcies soar by 83% year on year in the sector, according to UK accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young.

“After a tough time during the pandemic, many pubs and bars are left with very little savings or ability to borrow more,” and for some, “the current economic downturn has been the latest push into insolvency,” the firm described in a statement Monday.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, government aid had kept many businesses on life support. But in 2022, 512 pubs filed for bankruptcy, up from 280 the year before, during a period when energy prices soared, straining business budgets, the statement said.

< p>At the same time, the cost of living crisis “has affected the habits of consumers, making them less likely to spend on” non-essentials “”, continues the firm, for which the strikes of railway workers for wages, which have multiplied in recent months in the country, have also turned customers away from city center pubs.

The number of pubs has been slowly declining across the country for several decades, but “recent shocks like the pandemic and the energy crisis have put (these establishments) under greater pressure than ever”, according to the sectoral federation, the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA).

Ahead of the presentation of the budget in Parliament on 15 next March, the organization called for its part on the government to “invest in pubs and brasseries now or lose them forever”, in particular via a more advantageous tax system.

“After almost three years extremely difficult due to confinements, a energy crisis, disruption of supply chains, strikes and a dramatic drop in consumer confidence,” the sector is at a crossroads, says the BBPA.