Who's to blame for pub closures?

[Sysman]

This cannot be the cause of the latest round of pub closures because the Breweries acted exactly the same twenty years ago but the pubs did not shut down then.

Quite a lot did shut down 20 years ago. Thatcher chickened out with the Monopolies Commission investigation and let the breweries buy an awful lot of pubs, just as long as they inserted a holding/management company in between. The net effect was that in my local area Bass bought all the decent pubs and tried to force us to drink their ales. Once thriving places became empty and the early '90s recession did the rest.

At the same time, the breweries (oops I mean management companies) stuffed up many tenants by making them responsible for the building itself. Before then tenants had only been responsible for the building's interior and suddenly they were expected to re-roof them.

The seeds for the present decline were sown back then. Add in to the mix the climb in business rates, more to do at home and the smoking ban.

[AtW]

smoking ban.

I think pubs got much better without it - certainly in my chats with pub owners they don't mention smoking ban as what causes them issues: brewery is #1 problem, the rates (including utility bills), it's also not helping that there is recession.

[scooterscot]

Is drinking outdoors with bottle in hand on the underground OK in the UK? Seems to be the norm here in Berlin... Last night on the train on the way back into town it was students with a bottle of pinot noir in hand in summery dress..

[norrahe]

Is drinking outdoors with bottle in hand on the underground OK in the UK? Seems to be the norm here in Berlin... Last night on the train on the way back into town it was students with a bottle of pinot noir in hand in summery dress..

Drinking has been outlawed on the tube, but you have to take into consideration the drink culture in Britain is a far cry from the considerate drinking in mainland Europe. Also with the advent of cheap alcohol in supermarkets and the recent recession, people will buy their drinks there. There has been a move from the traditional pint in the local to making the most of your clientèle.

As for Pubs these days, business rates, monopoly of breweries and taxes on alcohol have killed your average traditional pub, many landlords now rely on selling food.

The pub is dead long live the gastropub