CLOSING TIME UK down to its last 52,000 pubs

Posted on 09/15/2016

As the words ‘public house’ infer, ‘pubs’ were and still are the core of a great many communities in the UK. Before the Internet there was the pub. It’s the place you go to learn about what’s going on, exchange gossip and meet the neighbors. The fact that the whole thing is done over a few beers is almost incidental ... at least that was always my story so why change it now?

It’s not at all uncommon for firm friendships to develop in ‘the local’ and be sustained for decades without either party ever seeing the other any other way than over the top of a pint mug alongside the bar. Looking back on my days in the UK, I had numerous such pub ‘friends’ whose homes I’ve never seen or for that matter whom I’ve never seen in broad daylight.
In my memories of pubbing it in the UK, there was a tavern on every corner and usually a couple in the middle of every block as well. Not so any more however, the poor Brits are going to have to struggle through the year ahead with a mere 52,750 watering holes after a staggering (a word long associated with pubs) 1,444 hostelries ceased trading in 2015.
Camra, an industry lobbying group, reports that a similar number will go this year with an average of 27 a week making their last call their last call. In London alone some three per week are disappearing on top of the more than 500 that have been shuttered in the last couple of years.
Depending on the source, the reasons for this sad situation vary but generally all agree that the elevated cost of real estate combined with the comparatively high cost of drinking in a pub versus buying discounted booze and consuming it at home, are two of the biggest contributors. Stricter enforcement of drunk driving laws has also added the expense of a taxi to and from the local, making the front room, a can of lager and ‘the telly’ all the more attractive: The roads are safer but the pubs are emptier.
While surprisingly there was little or no mention of it in any of the Brexit discussions I heard, it seems that at 52.2 pence per pint the UK has the highest rate of taxation on beer of any of the top six brewing countries in the EU. Second place Holland pays only 15.3 and sixth place Germany comes in at a measly 3.8. Given this huge spread it’s hardly surprising therefore that the UK pays almost 40 percent of all EU beer taxes despite consuming just 12 percent of the suds.
In some cases however, even thriving pubs are at risk. High property prices have made pubs increasingly attractive targets for developers. The Guardian reported last month that selling a pub in North London as a potential residential site could attract a price of up to £1 million while selling it as a trading pub would bring in only half that amount.
One London borough council however has decided enough is enough. Wandsworth, which is perhaps better known as home to the UK’s largest prison (almost 2,000 inmates) than its 120 bars and pubs, recently introduced new laws requiring owners to seek council approval before planning permission can be granted for redevelopment projects. Amazingly this was not always the case: where the popular Prince of Wales once stood there is now a mini-supermarket. Council leader John Cook proudly boasted that, “Wandsworth’s local inns, bars and taverns are now the best protected in the entire country.” And urged other communities to follow suit.
Those who might consider riding roughshod over such local laws should heed the peculiar tale of the Carlton Tavern, a 1920’s vintage drinking establishment in nearby Maida Vale. Despite the rejection of their planning application, in April 2015 developers went ahead and demolished the brick building shortly before it was due to be given “listed status.” Historic England stated it was, “A rare public house and remarkably well preserved from its interwar days”.
I just hope the demolition company numbered the bricks as they came down, because they have been instructed by Westminster Council to rebuild the place within 18 months and restore it “brick by brick” to its former self.
So the moral to this story is clear. Whether you like it or not, get out there on a regular basis and support your local pubs and bars … it’s your civic duty.