Greater than 400 pubs in England and Wales have both shut down or been repurposed over the previous yr, taking the overall quantity beneath 39,000 for the primary time.
Business actual property agency Altus Group says 412 public homes have been demolished or transformed for different use in 2024, leaving solely 38,989 in operation.
The UK’s brewing and hospitality sectors have lengthy warned of mounting prices, together with adjustments to the alcohol obligation system and better power payments. Companies additionally face additional challenges in 2025, when employer nationwide insurance coverage contributions will rise, the Nationwide Dwelling Wage is about to extend, and the low cost on enterprise charges shall be decreased from 75% to 40%.
Alex Probyn, UK president of property tax at Altus Group, says: “Many publicans I speak to are extremely worried that this could be their last Christmas. Costs for employers are going up just as rates relief is being scaled back, so maintaining profitability is increasingly difficult.”
The leisure trade suffered a heavy blow in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, highlighted by a fast decline in nightclubs, which fell from 1,700 a decade in the past to simply 787 by June 2024.
