Pub closures have reached their highest levels for more than a decade as 769 pub businesses entered insolvency last year, according to data from accountancy firm Price Bailey.
The figure represents a 48% jump on 518 pub insolvencies recorded in 2022. Researchers at Price Bailey put this down to increased costs for energy, labour and food and drink as well as squeezed consumer spending. Interest rate hikes and the ending of government energy support packages were also highlighted as factors.
The precise number of closures will be higher than 769, warned the firm, as many pub businesses consist of more than one pub, while other multiple operators will have shut venues without entering insolvency.
Matt Howard, head of insolvency and recovery at Price Bailey, said: “Many pub businesses piled up barely manageable levels of debt during the pandemic lockdowns and rate hikes are tipping an increasing number into the red. The longer rates stay at current levels, the more pubs are likely to close their doors for good.”
The figures were produced using data requested under the Freedom of Information Act. The UK finished 2023 with 38,175 pubs, the report found, declining from 41,015 10 years previously.
However, Howard said there were some reasons for optimism. “Even though many of the large pub chains and independent pubs are struggling, innovative new market entrants, such as pubs owned by craft breweries, and theme pubs, such as the Boom Battle Bar chain, are successfully shaking up the industry.”
Photo by Marcelo Ikeda Tchelão/Pixabay
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