The Fall of the UK Pub

The UK’s traditional pub is facing last orders.

The British Beer and Pub Association says a record 52 pubs are closing every week and 5000 have shut in the past three years.

Competition from supermarkets and the sharp downturn in consumer spending are all piling on the pressure.

Neil Williams of the British Beer and Pub Association says high prices are also to blame.

[Neil Williams, British Beer and Pub Association]:
„The pub trade is experiencing a really perfect storm of adverse conditions at the moment. We’ve got the credit crunch and the recession, which is doing huge damage to lots of pubs. We’ve also had massive increases on government tax on beer, which is still the key product for pubs. In the last 18 months, we’ve had a 20 percent increase, and also the government continues to plan for more regulation and red tape which is also pushing a lot of pubs out of business.“

Brick Lane in east London once had 20 pubs.

Many of them have been turned into shops, cafes and restaurants.

But the Pride of Spitalfield is still standing, 20 years since its landlady Anne Butler took it on.

She says a 2007 British smoking ban has put a strain on business.

[Anne Butler, Landlady of the Pride of Spitalfields]:
„It’s all to do with the council and the powers they’ve given to the lay people. And because we can’t smoke in the pub, we’ve got to smoke in the street, which obviously people aren’t used to, and it is noisy, but nobody can have their cake and eat it, you know.“

There’s no putting off regulars here though.

They say struggling pubs should follow the Pride of Spitalfield’s warm welcome.

[Robin, Pub Customer]:
„I just think it’s a lovely local friend, food is great, beer is cheap, like the company, met lots of people in here.“

[Jim, Pub Customer]:
„Anne owns the pub, which is completely different. She’s a tenant, so she’s not tied to a brewery. And the breweries are the ones that put the prices up.“

But the downturn means many brewers have also been forced to shut their doors, putting more people out of work.

There are over 53,000 pubs across Britain, but with the rate of closure forecast to accelerate further, there’ll be far fewer scenes like these.

(NTDTV)