Rachel Reeves has got it wrong on pubs (Image: Getty)
The days of being filled to the brim at the end of a day’s work are long gone. Nowadays, people prefer to drop by on Friday nights and weekends.
But they are still very much that provide a crucial place to spend time with friends and family, even for the growing number of people choosing to become . Incidentally, I am most definitely not one of those.
This sort of social contact is infinitely superior to shouting over blaring as you try and talk to a person a few centimetres away from you in a club. If you live on your own, it is very easy to slip into a habit of spending too much time at home with no one else’s company.
Pubs also offer a place to come together and celebrate momentous occasions, so long as you are not in the gents when they happen. I will never forgive myself for missing Ollie Watkins’ winning goal against the Netherlands in the semi-final of the Euros last year.
Pubs are still a crucial part of people’s lives (Image: Getty)
Data has suggested that, in 2024, more than 400 pubs closed in the UK. This was an average of around 34 a month.
In December, it was reported that the number of public houses in England and Wales fell to 38,989. This total included those vacant and being offered to let.
The director of a chain of pubs in Surrey, Clive Price, that he was facing a bill of beyond £1million, and that there is a risk that some could have to close thanks to the Chancellor’s Budget outlined on October 30.
An increase to employers’ National Insurance (NI) contributions, along with a higher minimum wage for staff, means that the group of venues will have to pay out an extra £2,500 per employee for a 38 hour working week over the course of a year.
Instead, Mr Price called for a 10% cut to VAT on food to bring British rules in line with those in Europe. He would be “happier to pay” corporation tax, he added, as that would mean “you’ve actually made a profit”.
Clive Price manages a chain of pubs and oversees 500 employees (Image: Clive Price)
, Louise Maclean, director of sales and marketing at the Signature Group – a hospitality firm with 700 staff across 24 venues in Scotland, told the that her firm faces a £1.5million increase in its outgoings. She also highlighted that their costs would have to be passed onto customers in order for venues to survive.
It is well known that being a landlord is extremely trying, and venues are kept going by making miniscule profits, if at all. This is especially the case as regards independent pubs.
Rampant inflation has resulted in a huge increase of the cost of stock, and consumer spending power has been increasingly strained by the rising .
It’s also worth remembering that venues provide jobs in communities, and these are often young people’s first. it was reported that more than half (51%) of the UK’s overall pub sector workforce were aged 16 to 24, figures from 2024 Oxford Economics suggested.
Rachel Reeves’ policies are set to make life harder for landlords (Image: Getty)
There were 2.8million jobs in the hospitality industry in the UK in the three months to June 2024, representing 7.5% of all UK jobs, documents stated. Now, the Chancellor has been warned that “drastic” job cuts are inbound.
Some landlords may have been sceptical when Rachel Reeves reassured businesses that she was all for enterprise during the general election campaign. It turns out they were right to be.
Reeves’ measures will end up indirectly penalising people enjoying the benefits of an invaluable national tradition that is becoming more of a rare treat for those looking to save money. They will also likely catalyse an already unsettling rate of closures.
The Chancellor has claimed at length that she wants to help working people. Landlords are some of the hardest working people out there, and their customers, many of whom are also hard grafters, benefit hugely from their businesses. It doesn’t make sense.