Decline in British Pubs

I doubt the Brits are drinking less beer, so the question is where they are drinking it - either at home or in taprooms. Perhaps this is related to the pubs owned by Samuel Smith having a no swearing policy and other un-fun rules?

 

I reckon the younger generation isn't upholding the beer drinking tradition by turning to wine, cider or abstaining. Just a guess.

 

I only spent a day in London (though several more in Slovakia and Prague), but every pub I went to had an espresso machine as well, which is a trend I wish would pick up in the US. While I enjoyed drinking in those countries, it was such a relief the like two times I came across decent IPAs just to have something a bit different and bolder. On a side note, I also managed to have the absolute blandest fish and chips I've ever had while in London, which was a bit of a disappointment.

 

I saw the same thing in Poland, seemed that every bar was part bar/part coffee house.

 

Tax on alcohol sold in a pub is unfairly high compared to other outlets in the UK. I don't remember the numbers but it's something like 15% (pub) vs 2-3% (supermarket)

 

I've been of drinking age for 18 years and have witnessed a steady decline in the amount of pubs in my area. Ever seen the sci-fi comedy 'The World's End?' Well, my version of that was the 'Crown to Town', and almost all of the pubs on that run have closed. The reason: a deluge of immigration over the last fifteen years has changed the area beyond recognition, and pubs simply don't get business from Eastern Europeans or the Portuguese. All but one of the ex pubs are now Eastern European mini-markets. In fairness they were dive bars but it's still sad to see.

On a broader scale:
* the financial crisis doubtless played a huge part
* the seemingly exponential rise in the price of a pint
* younger generations aren't big into drinking

The good news is that it only seems to be the dive bars that are closing, and despite the decline, the pub scene is getting better and new places are actually popping up everywhere. It's never been easier to find a top notch pint of Real Ale and I can't keep up with the amount of breweries that are opening.

 

I've not been keeping track, did CAMRA expand their scope from just Real Ale to start focusing on ways to help preserve traditional Pubs as well as Real Ale? It seemed a reasonable idea when I first heard it was under discussion because the Pub has been such a critical element in being able to offer properly cared for cask ale.

 

Afraid I've not been keeping track either, but yeah, I think they were going to turn their focus onto saving pubs, which is very important. It's painful enough seeing a nice old boozer turn into an estate agency or Lithuanian supermarket, but to have them torn down is a tragedy. Fortunately it's only happened once in my hometown in recent years.

 

I blame the Millenials! Always ruining everything!!!

 

I see the same thing in Ireland a lot and it's become a real issue across the country with lots of pubs closing. I think the crash in the economy a few years back obviously had a massive impact on pubs but what it really highlighted is the fact that many pubs had been offering a pretty average product for a long time but the excess of cash in the country seemed to paper over the cracks to a degree as people had plenty of disposable income to spend in pubs at the weekend. Whether it was poor drink and food choice/cleanliness/poor staff etc. these pubs seem to have done well in the boom times but suffered when peoples spending money decreased and as such they expected a bit more for their money when going to the local pub.

We've also seen a steady increase in the price of a pint which has coincided with a decrease in the price of beer from supermarkets/off licenses. The massive increase in craft beer available has also moved people from the traditional pubs with craft beer bars pretty much packed with people and more opening all the time. The government are currently processing a minimum unit pricing law that will force the price in off licenses to increase to a point where the cheapest they will be able to sell a 500ml/16oz can of any beer will be about €2 (an increase of about 40% for some beers) this is being packaged under a health initiative but most people seem to think that it's a leg up to the struggling publicans that are a powerful lobbying group. In theory this shouldn't really impact the price of craft beer but the rising tide carry's all boats and all that.

 

I think that vibe may be misguided, probably because of continental bias. You may get more thorough information posing this same topic to the UK forum.

This site (below) has a dearth of actual information other than numbers, names and addresses/sites of former pubs, but it's a start. Out of +30,000 pubs closed, I find it hard to believe that they were all 'dives'. There are dates for some areas more than others and it shows that these closures have been ongoing.

http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/

 

CAMRA has for a long time been active in pub protection. Effectively pubs are the only places selling live cask beer so it is certainly in its interest to limit closures.
Each branch has a Pub Protection Officer, wherever a pub is at risk an Asset of Community Value (ACV) status can be applied for. This restricts change of use of the premises until all paths to keeping the pubs open have been exhausted.

 

For a long time? Good to know as I wasn't aware of that and was basing my comment on the contents and comments made by our UK members in threads such as this one:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/camra-to-change-focus-due-to-hipsters.401862

Which was triggered mostly by this article.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...ers-has-the-campaign-for-real-ale-pulled-its/

 

Look at the numbers.

In 1990, 80% of beer sold in the UK was sold through pubs, clubs and licensed premises (rather than at a store).
In 2000, it was more than two-thirds of beer sold.
In 2015, it was 49%.

They all can't remain open with numbers like that.

The tax on a pint of beer has made things expensive. People are spending less by buying beer in a store and drinking it at home. Smoking bans factored into keeping people home as well. When you add in the rising popularity of wine, beer pubs are losing the battle on two fronts.

At one point, pubs were closing at the rate of more than 30 a week.

If anyone is wondering, in 2015, cask ale sales were at 8.2% of total draught beer sold in the UK.

 

One of the reasons for many pub closures is the rise of the PubCo's, large companies that tie pubs/publicans to their often expensive beer supply chain. The publicans have to pay more for their beer, and for the everyday drinker, the price of a pint often goes up. Expensive beer-ties have put many pubs/publicans out of business, because drinkers can get their beers for lees elsewhere.
This has been reported extensively in the British investigative journal publication - Private Eye. The UK government have attempted to resolve this situation by the use of a government appointed pubs code adjudicator, however it has been proved the current adjudicator has significant conflicts of interest as he works also for a PubCo called Fluerets who have control of many pubs. The current situation is that the adjudicator holds up delivery of verdicts in publican Vs PubCo just long enough for the poor old publican to effectively go out of business.