Pub owners across Britain are grappling with a perfect storm of soaring costs and falling demand as they close as early as 8pm in a battle to stay in business.
Some landlords told how they have even started shutting on the quietest days to save money amid a spike in the price of electricity and beer.
Some 509 pubs shut for good in 2023, equating to a loss of 6,000 jobs – with 3,043 pubs going in the last six years. The UK total now stands at an estimated 45,306.
One manager said their electricity bill was up 1,000 per cent in two years, while another had to put a lock box on the thermostat to stop customers turning it up.
Others said Sky Sports was now costing them anywhere between £680 and £1,400 as they try to work out whether it is worth continuing to show live football.
As one claimed they are working 18 hours each day just to say afloat, visited a number of pubs to find out how they are coping in the current climate.
‘I’m working 18 hours a day and had to cancel Sky Sports’
Terry Weston, who manages The New George Pub in Kirkstall, Leeds
A landlord in Leeds said he has to put in 16 to 18 hour days, seven days a week to keep his pub afloat.
Terry Weston, 65, takes beer deliveries at 6am on a Tuesday at the New George in Kirkstall and is at Leeds Market at 7am on other days to buy bread rolls for the £2 sandwiches he puts on to entice customers in.
He has already cancelled the pub’s Sky Sports subscription after it rocketed to £680 a month and only calls in casual staff for help when he’s desperate for it.
But Mr Weston – who hasn’t had a holiday for five years – says he may have to close one day a week if things don’t pick up.
He told : ‘Sometimes you fall asleep you’re that knackered. Sometimes I fall asleep on the bus coming back from the market and miss my stop.
‘I can’t afford to hire more staff, I’ve got two casual bar staff if I need them, but you just hope you’re going to get through this recession.’
Before Covid, his pub was packed most nights, particularly at the weekend when he’d show rugby league and football matches on the pub’s television.
The New George’s owner had to cancel the pub’s Sky Sports subscription after it rocketed
But since restrictions were eased, he’s not had the footfall to justify that outlay.
And while it’s seen a drop off in numbers on peak Friday nights when Super League matches are televised, he feels it was a necessary cut to make.
He added: ‘Since Covid, it’s not been right clever and it’s been hard to pick it back up. It used to be packed in here on a Sunday and Wednesday club used to be rammed, but it’s been hard since Covid.
‘Sunday nights are my busiest night because we have karaoke on. Friday’s used to be rammed when the rugby was on, but I had to get rid of Sky.
‘They put it up to £680 a month, so I cut it off and they fined me for breaching the contract even though I’d given them a month’s notice. We only had it for the football and rugby, but my regulars said it’s not worth it if it’s going to bankrupt you.
‘I had a pub near here before this one and the brewery put my beer prices and rent up so much I couldn’t afford to stay open. It’s been flattened now and they’ve built houses on there.’
Mr Weston says he may have to close the New George one day a week if things don’t pick up
Desperate not to see the New George go the same way – and despite a drop in trade – he insists on staying open from noon to midnight every day, calling last orders at 11.45pm.
And despite his competitive prices – £3.70 for most ciders and lagers, £4.10 for Birra Moretti and £3.50 for cask ales – he puts on promotional offers such as £3 a pint on Wednesday nights to entice punters back in.
But Mr Weston conceded: ‘If it doesn’t pick up, I might have to close a bit earlier, or even shut one day a week. But how do you decide which day?
‘You don’t want to shut because you might lose customers, but if it’s going to be more expensive to stay open, I might have to.
‘My energy bills have shot up, the price of beer has gone up but I can’t put my prices up. You’ve got to keep it at that price to get people in.
Terry Weston puts on offers such as £3 a pint on Wednesday nights to entice punters back in
‘You’ve got to be careful if you the prices up, this is a working class area we’re in and money is tight for people.
‘I put £3 a pint on Wednesdays on everything as a treat to thank my customers for their support.
‘I get my deliveries at 6am on a Tuesday and on other days I’m at the market for 7am to get my breadcakes as I can’t get them from anywhere else, I have to go into town.
‘I put sandwiches on the bar for people, I don’t make anything on them as I only charge £2 and they’re quite big sandwiches, but it’s something for them to come in for, you might get a worker pop in for a sandwich and a pint.’
He also said that any help from Westminster would be appreciated, but added: ‘The Government should give a bit more financial help to cover the costs of energy bills, that would help us out.’
‘We haven’t been able to pull ourselves up after lockdown’
Lisa Moore inside her pub, the 15th century Tudor Rose in Romsey, Hampshire
The owner of a 15th century pub in Hampshire said she regularly has to close up because it is ‘too expensive’ to keep the electricity running.
Lisa Moore, 63, who has been the landlady of The Tudor Rose in Romsey for 11 years, also said that business has become ‘really hard’ since the pandemic.
The pub – which has been in the town since 1447 – used to stay open until 11pm, but now regularly shuts early.
She told : ‘We have to close anywhere between 6pm and 8pm, where we usually used to be open until 11pm.
‘It’s just the customers, if anything, and it’s too expensive to have staff. Obviously, there’s a lot of electricity being used.’
Speaking about the impact of Covid-19, she continued: ‘After lockdown, everything got really hard.
‘We haven’t really been able to pull ourselves up after lockdown. The only good day is Sunday, but that doesn’t keep us up for the rest of the week.
‘If there’s customers, we will stay open for them, if there’s no customers then we end up shutting up. It’s just not worth keeping open just for that one or two people walking past. It varies anywhere between 6pm and 8pm – unless we have darts on.’
The Tudor Rose pub in Romsey used to stay open until 11pm, but now regularly shuts early
Ms Moore said customers ‘just can’t afford’ to carry on coming into pubs and buying pints. Instead, she said many are ‘going up the road’ to supermarkets and buying cheaper beer from there.
‘If people can go up the road and get a pint for £2.50, they’re not going to come here and get one for £5.50,’ she said.
Ms Moore said she does not have full control over the costs of the pints and has tried to keep them down.
She continued: ‘We get a group of old guys, they come here three days a week, just for one and they said they still come here to be loyal.’
The landlady said her old ‘regulars’ would come in every night before lockdown – but now it is ‘twice a week’.
‘Not financially viable to open on a Monday or a Tuesday’
Marsha Jones, 48, pictured with her husband Graham Bird, has run The Inn at Eastburn in West Yorkshire for the last four years
One pub landlady told how she had been forced to reduce her opening hours amid the cost of living crisis and rising energy bills.
Marsha Jones has run The Inn at Eastburn near Keighley in West Yorkshire, for the last four years – but said she has been forced to close on a Wednesday because of a decrease in customers.
The 48-year-old said she has had to cut staff, close earlier and on quieter days does not even open because it’s not ‘financially viable’.
She told : ‘Before Covid, we were really busy and had around 15 staff. We were always full, open until late and then everything changed.
‘We used to be open Wednesday to Sunday but now we’re only open Thursday to Sunday.
‘People aren’t coming into drink anymore, they are coming into eat. They aren’t coming in late at night so the late night drinking has stopped. We used to do all drink and a little bit of food, and now we’re just doing more food.
‘We also close really early now – we close at 9pm on a Thursday, 10.30pm on a Friday and Saturday and 8pm on a Sunday. Those sort of midnight finishes are all completely out of the window.’
Ms Jones believes she is getting fewer customers because breweries have ‘massively’ increased their prices, which means it is now cheaper to buy alcohol from the supermarkets.
The landlady of The Inn at Eastburn in West Yorkshire has had to cut staff and close earlier
She said: ‘I think money is just tight for people and the breweries have put their prices up ridiculously, so our costs have massively increased.
‘You used to be able to go to the pub, have a couple of pints and not really sort of notice it. But now it’s expensive to drink out.
‘The supermarkets don’t pay all this on their beer so you can go and buy a case of beer and sit at home and drink it.
‘The people who are coming out, are coming out more for the social aspect then they are for the actual alcohol aspect.’
She added that she ‘always worries’ about the business having to close down because of the lack of trade, adding: ‘Our cash flow is tight – we live week to week and the business isn’t going anywhere.
‘You used to be able to build up a little pot of money and then you could do some renovations or do something new once or twice a year. With the rising energy bills, we sometimes make a loss on a Thursday.
‘It’s certainly not financially viable to open on a Monday or a Tuesday – in my local area, there is very few pubs that actually open on a Monday or a Tuesday.
‘We always worry about closing – we’ve got 18 months left on the lease and we’re just trying to get there.’
‘Sky Sports is now £1,400 a month – it doesn’t break even’
Tony Digweed at his New Forest pub, The Crown Inn in Fordingbridge, Hampshire
One pub landlord on the edge of the New Forest said his electricity bill has risen from £400 to £4,000 a month since 2022 – and he even has to cover the thermostat to stop customers from turning the heating up.
Tony Digweed has been the landlord of The Crown Inn in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, for six years and said he cannot justify staying open if there are no customers.
The 60-year-old told : ‘Things just haven’t really recovered since Covid, people have just gotten into different habits really.
‘People have discovered beer is a lot cheaper from the supermarkets.’
He said that following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, his electricity costs shot up, adding: ‘Electricity previously was £400 then it went up to over £4,000 a month.
‘When you’re trying to manage without another £30,000 a year… it was a massive change.’
He continued: ‘What we did was stop serving food for a year. The chef was earning £35,000 a year so I just knocked food in the head.
‘We were switching everything off at night, we were switching our cellar cooler off at night.
The Crown Inn in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, now opens until 9pm or 10pm instead of 11pm
‘It’s really difficult. Particularly, what we found is people don’t go out unless there’s a reason. It’s ‘So and so has got karaoke tonight’, or ‘So and so has got a band on’.
‘We have got to give a reason for people to come out. We have tried to put our prices up but have found people have nothing else to do but complain – we are getting squeezed from both ends.’
Mr Digweed added that he had to put a lock box on the thermostat because customers would come in and turn up the heating, adding that one would ‘crank the thermostat up to 30 and leave’.
He continued: ‘But that’s how challenging it is here. I haven’t paid myself for five years. What we did is the winter hours are different to the summer hours.
'We used to stay open until 11pm every day of the week since we opened up.'
Mr Digweed said the pub now closes at 9pm or 10pm, although will stay open until 10.30pm or 11pm if customers were still there.
He added: 'We say to the bar staff, if you've not sold 12 pints in here then shut.'
Mr Digweed said however that on recent busy Friday nights, they have 'stayed open until midnight'.
He continued: 'Do you know much Sky Sports is? £1,400 a month. It doesn't break even. We show every match. In the winter, when it's Burnley playing Wolves, we got one person come in and watch it.
Despite this, Mr Digwood said he would continue to show the football because it is the pub's 'USP'.
'It's really difficult - you're barely just breaking even'
Jack Stoner, manager of The Olive in Romsey
Jack Stoner, manager of The Olive in Romsey, Hampshire, said costs have changed how his pub is run.
The 32-year-old told : 'It's really challenging, you have to be on your A-game all the time.
'People aren't going out ad-hoc anymore, they're going out when it's a special occasion and when there is something they really want to come out for.
'In January and February, it was really difficult, you're barely just breaking even.
'We have obviously had to put prices here up and the national wage has gone up so we're going to have to do another increase.
'It seems to be, if you're doing something and have something on, then people come out for it.
'People seem to be, when they come out, they want to feel like they are getting value for their money so we're trying to make it more premium because we're having to put the prices up.'
'The days have gone now where you have to call time'
The Wheatsheaf in Romsey, Hampshire, can be found empty between 9.30pm and 10pm
Glenys Swan, landlady of The Wheatsheaf in Romsey, Hampshire, said trade has been affected by changing working patters after the pandemic.
She told : 'People aren't going home from work, they are normally working from home so they don't pass the pub on the way home so that's impacted us a bit.
'Often, the pub can be empty between 9.30pm and 10pm so there is no one here so we will close early but we never had that before, ever. The days have gone now where you have to call time.'
She added that it was so unpredictable now that 'you can get some busy Mondays and you can have a really quiet Friday'.
She added: 'The pandemic has changed people. Back in the day, [we'd shut] at 11pm every so we'd be open from 11am until 11pm. But, that has changed.'
Ms Swan said the pub now shuts at around 10pm, adding: 'Well, staff can go home, we get cleaned up quicker and we can turn our lights off and save money on the electricity.'
'Pubs close early because fewer people are going out late'
Nick Collins is chief executive of Loungers
One pub boss has warned the industry is struggling due to 'a move away from late nights' - meaning bars are closing earlier to try and cut costs.
Chief executive of bar chain Loungers Nick Collins said one of the reasons pubs are closing earlier is that 'fewer people are going out late at night' and people are spending a little earlier in the day instead.
He said it is a 'really challenging environment' especially for smaller, independent bars.
Mr Collins told BBC Radio 4: 'We're a big business, so we're very fortunate that we can withstand a lot of this pressure.
'I think if you look at the way customers are spending money in the hospitality sector there's no doubt there's been a move away from late, late nights.
'Fewer people are going out late at night and people are spending a little earlier in the day. But it's the whole combination of things.
'For the smaller independent operators, it's a really challenging environment. We would really like to see the Government do something about reduced rates of VAT in hospitality. I think it has a really damaging impact on the high street.'
He added that the last three to four years have seen significant damage to the high street, but Loungers is trying to open a new site every seven to ten days.
'32% of hospitality firms have reduced hours due to costs'
Kate Nicholls, UKHospitality chief executive
A hospitality industry leader has warned that many venues have had to close earlier because of high costs and changes in demand.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, told : 'With hospitality businesses facing the continued strain of cost pressures across the board, labour shortages and changing working patterns, many venues have had little choice but to reduce their opening hours in order to remain profitable.’
She added that the industry body carried out a poll of hospitality businesses which found 32 per cent have reduced their hours due to operating costs, with Monday to Wednesday being the days that are most impacted.
Ms Nicholls continued: 'It's therefore crucial that the Government takes action to help relieve some of these cost pressures and enable venues to continue delivering outstanding hospitality experiences, which contribute more than £93billion to the economy each year.
'We continue to urge Government to help bring down the cost of doing business, including calling for root and branch reform of the current business rates system.'
'UK's pubs are grappling with a multitude of challenges'
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association
Pub-goers are now facing having to spend less time at their beloved local than they used to, according to the British Beer and Pub Association.
The organisation's survey of members found 32 per cent had reduced their hours due to high costs.
Emma McClarkin, the boss of the industry group, said: 'They have been grappling with a multitude of challenges.
'The decision to reduce hours is not one pubs want to make – it is a survival strategy in an unsustainably tough environment.'
On top of this, the BBPA found that 509 pubs shut down in 2023 and by June this year an estimated 750 could close.