There are 52 pub closures a week according to the BBPA but what are the stories behind the closures? If you have run a pub that has been forced to close or know of anyone who has been affected, or even if you just want to voice your views about the closures please speak out and join the discussion here. Emma
The question has to be, would those 52 pubs (each week) have hit the wall sooner or later anyway?
The stats look pretty shocking I admit, but if you;re running a tight ship, your focussing on quality service and you know what your punters are after then recession or no recession you should be relatively unsinkable.
Its my guess that the bulk of those pubs were financially up the proverbial creek to a lesser degree before the credit crunch. When the financial muck finally hit the fan, they were already doomed to begin with.
When i was a child i remember touring various parts of the country looking for a 'nice pub' to have lunch in. Invariably my mum would reject at least three options due to smokiness, dirtiness/dinginess or surly attitude and then of course, we'd be barred from a couple of others, because they didnt accept children or had stopped serving food at 2pm, which of course it alway was.
While many pubs have changed since then, i truly hope it is those places - and there are a fair few still out there - that were still suck in some kind of peverse 70s timewarp where service and giving the customer what they actually want were perceived as irrelevant - are the ones that are going to the wall.
Conversely, I hope that the ones which have changed with the times and embraced family dining, good food, interesting drinks etc really do thrive, as they're such a great alternative to high street chain stuff...
Here's hoping...
Ems: When i was a child i remember touring various parts of the country looking for a 'nice pub' to have lunch in. Invariably my mum would reject at least three options due to smokiness, dirtiness/dinginess or surly attitude and then of course, we'd be barred from a couple of others, because they didnt accept children or had stopped serving food at 2pm, which of course it alway was. While many pubs have changed since then, i truly hope it is those places - and there are a fair few still out there - that were still suck in some kind of peverse 70s timewarp where service and giving the customer what they actually want were perceived as irrelevant - are the ones that are going to the wall. Conversely, I hope that the ones which have changed with the times and embraced family dining, good food, interesting drinks etc really do thrive, as they're such a great alternative to high street chain stuff... Here's hoping...
I agree Ems! My local pub (which has recently been bought from Punch to Shepherd Neame) has had a number off different landlords for as long as I have lived in the area and not all of them were willing the embrace the wider community.
The current landlord is trying to promote as a family pub, and is trying hard to embrace the local community. They have done this by adding a kids play area, have regular music nights with local bands and have even had a small farmers' market over a weekend pitch up in their car park. They offer a great menu - and are always booked up for Sunday Lunch.
Living in a small town - which is being slowly over-run with the bigger chains of resturants I think that pubs like this would be a loss to the greater community.
I too agree with you there. In fact, it's a search I'm all too familiar with.
There are far too few genuinely family friendly pubs, in my vicinity at least (the 'burbs of Crystal Palace). The ones that do exist are so completely rammed that getting a table for your little brood is not the relaxing affair you're looking for in a Sunday afternoon trip to the pub.
I'm certainly not suggesting all pubs go family-friendly. I, like everyone else (parents or otherwise), enjoy my rare trips out without the kids in child-free zones.
I'd just like more options.
What do you think of Prue Leith's idea (in the latest issue of Beer Magazine) of getting local pubs to provide the school dinners? In my local authority (West Sussex) the schools are spending a fortune re-installing kitchens ripped out in the 1980s to serve food that most of the KS1 children won't eat. Eddie Mair had quite a field day with the story on Wednesday's PM programme on BBC Radio 4, suggesting that the children would be walked down to the pub to upset the local codgers. Prue retorted that at least the children would become familiar with the pub and treat it more like a community treasure.
I think it is a great idea, especially as they would be visiting during the day. Pubs are frantic to retain their position as the hubs of communities so what better way than to encourage future generations of pub customers. Whilst encouraging future trade it would boost the coffers for current trade on a regular basis - although it might have to be a once a week / a month set up or the food standards agency would have a fit about salt and fat levels associated with traditional pub grub.
Sadly, there is very little data available about WHAT kind of pubs these are, WHERE they are, and WHY they are actually closing.
I am working with a Masters student at the University of Surrey who is doing a reasearch paper on this very topic.
If you have any live example these would be good to hear. The sorts of things that could be of noteable impact are:
Send any data to ab00229@surrey.ac.uk
Let's see if we can unpack these alarming headlines a bit.
.The big mistake was giving supermarkets and others licences to sell alcohol. In my town there was a time when the supermarkets only sold groceries and every pub , bar one, had an off licence attached to it. The authorities could bring about that situation again by restricting licences.
On recycling collection day, when I walk through my neighbourhood, I see bin after bin full of empty beer cans. Each can represents a drink that should have been bought at a local pub. The smoking ban has little to do with the problem. The main problem is the availability of alcoholic drinks.
This is funny and soooo true. ha ha made me laugh!
I have a friend who runs a pub which I occasionally work at, and since the "credit crunch", recession or whatever you want to call it, I have noticed more and more that people are spending less time and money in pubs. They tend to order half pints more frequently, and I've lost count of the number of times I've heard people say "Let's drink at home, it's cheaper".
They're right, it is cheaper, but I love nothing more than going out for a pint at a cosy local pub in the winter!
Also the icreased tax on alcohol is definitely having more of an effect on pubs than it is shops which sell booze, they have to up their prices more and more.