PUB LOSSES
It has been reported that the number of pubs in England and Wales has fallen below 39,000 for first time, with 412 pubs having closed in the course of 2024. This story received some press coverage during ‘twixtmas’. The figure of 412 was provided by the Altus Group, a property data company, using ‘government figures’. London lost 53 pubs leaving us with 3,470. The figures do however only include pubs that were demolished or converted for other uses. It takes no account of the many pubs which have been left empty, awaiting their fate or, hopefully, new management. It is also, I presume, not net of new openings. The Propel Newsletter (18 November) reported that a source called the Hospitality Market Monitor had reported a rise in licensed outlets between July and September 2024, although not all of these may have been pubs as we know them. Similarly, Christie & Co, who are a large estate agents specialising in the hospitality industry, reported that in 2024 88% of the sites that they sold were for continued use as pubs. They said that this ‘demonstrated the sector’s resilience and the important role of pubs in communities across the UK’. It seems likely that there will be more losses towards the end of this year after the increases in Employers’ National Insurance and the minimum wage and the reduction in the discount on business rates, all due in April, begin to take effect but it may be that we are not starting from as bad a position as we might have thought. We can only wait and see.
EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY
EPR is the Government scheme under which companies that supply goods in any sort of package have to meet the cost of recycling that packaging. In December, the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) issued a warning that the proposed charges, due to start this year, will have a serious effect on breweries who supply beer in bottles, describing the scheme as ‘an extremely worrying step in the wrong direction’. The scheme involves not only paying charges and registration fees but also requires firms to submit detailed monitoring data. The BBPA believe that the scheme will lead to increases in the cost of bottled beers or may see some brewers simply stop producing beer in bottles completely. Cans are not an alternative however because they are also included although the fees may be lower.
HIGH STREET RENTAL AUCTIONS
This scheme has been retained by the current Government. It allows local authorities to auction leases for empty high street premises with the aim of regenerating high (shopping) streets. It came into effect on 2 December. A property needs to have been vacant for more than 12 months in any 24 month period to qualify. There is a concern that councils may lease out closed pubs for other purposes, thus by-passing their sui generis status under which planning permission would be required for a change of use. This could also lead to a pub’s fixtures and fittings being removed, which would greatly increase the likelihood of it never being returned to pub use. Local authorities do however have the power to designate the use of a premises which means that they could require pubs to be leased only as pubs. This is a concession that CAMRA’s campaigned for. It is however discretionary. For this reason, CAMRA has asked its branches to contact the local authorities in their area to encourage them to use this power.
ACTUALLY INACCURATE
It’s good to see local papers encouraging their readers to use pubs but it does help if the content is accurate. My attention has been drawn to an article entitled ‘17 of the greatest pubs for food across the UK – according to customers’. The version I saw came from the Lancaster Guardian but I suspect that the article was syndicated, so I am not specifically criticising them. There was only one London pub listed: the Harp in Covent Garden. The article says, ‘The Harp has received praise from customers for its charming decor, beer selection and food options. Diners have claimed it is “the best pub in London”, with great food’. As I am sure many readers are aware, the Harp does not serve food, just bar snacks, sandwiches and pork pies. It used to serve sausages in French bread but this has, I believe, been discontinued. A friend suggested that the article might be a product of ‘AI’ (artificial intelligence) but, even so, there is no excuse for not checking. Such errors are not fair on the pub and I just hope that the staff don’t now have to explain this too often. The mistake has been drawn to the paper’s attention. In this context I commend readers to CAMRA’s WhatPub website (now at https://camra.org.uk/pubs) because it is maintained by local volunteers who take pride in getting it right.
RESERVING TABLES
I would never presume to tell publicans how to do their job but can I just mention something that annoys me personally, along with several other regular pub-goers of my acquaintance. This concerns table bookings. Here I’m talking about tables for drinking, not for dining. I have no objection to the practice in principle. It makes sense when pubs are holding quizzes or similar events or at busy times but it is disappointing to have a ‘reserved for…’ sign banged down on the table at which you are already sitting, as if to say that there are other customers who are more important than you. Please show some respect for the customers who you already have and who have already put money into your till.
UNHAPPY BOROUGHS
The MyLondon news website has reported that Barking and Dagenham is the ‘saddest’ borough in Greater London. This is based on a survey of 35,000 people conducted by the property website Rightmove. For the record, London’s happiest borough is Richmond upon Thames, which came second overall nationally to Woodbridge in Suffolk. Readers may recall that, in our October/November edition, I reported that Barking and Dagenham was the borough with the lowest number of pubs in Greater London, with just 15 serving a population of 219,000. I leave it to readers to draw any conclusions, if indeed there are any to draw.
CHRISTMAS ON THE WATER
The Royal National Lifeboat institution operates three lifeboats on the River Thames, at Chiswick, Waterloo Bridge and Gravesend. They are the only RNLI boats which are permanently crewed (four people on 12 hour shifts) rather than relying on volunteers on call. This includes Christmas Day. Fortunately for the crew at Chiswick, the generous folk at the White Hart in Barnes, a Young’s pub, made sure that they did not go without and provided them with a full Christmas dinner. Well done the White Hart! Sadly, this festive gesture now comes to an end. By next Christmas the Chiswick crews will have moved to a new base in Wandsworth. The Chiswick station is the RNLI’s second busiest and, since it opened in 2002, has attended over 4,600 incidents and saved 193 lives.
For those of you interested in these matters, the Thames stations uniquely use E-Class lifeboats with twin 450 horsepower engines capable of propelling the boat at 40 knots. Don’t forget that the RNLI is entirely funded by public donations.