Labour urges government to save pubs as 5,500 have closed since 2010

Labour has warned that a blanket withdrawal from the furlough scheme would have a catastrophic effect on the hospitality sector, after new analysis revealed that one pub or bar has shut every 14 hours under the Conservatives.

Over 5,500 pubs and bars have closed since the Tories first took power in 2010, according to the Interdepartmental Business Register, and the number of establishments has fallen in every single region of the UK.

The South East has been the worst-hit area, losing 855 pubs or bars during this period, followed by the North West, South West, and Wales, which have all lost at least 530 each.

Labour is reiterating its call for the furlough scheme to be extended in hard-hit industries, as well as the creation of a ‘hospitality and high street fightback fund’ to support pubs, bars and other under-pressure high street businesses.

The hospitality sector has started to reopen but is operating at a reduced capacity due to social distancing rules. The British Beer and Pub Association said in August that 37% of pubs would not break even in their first month of reopening. One in four pubs and breweries have said that their current business couldn’t last beyond March 2021.

The decline in the numbers of pubs and bars predates Covid-19. The Long Live The Local Campaign has previously called on the government to reduce the tax pressures placed on pubs and bars, with British pubs facing some of the highest beer duty taxes in Europe.

Lucy Powell, shadow minister for business and consumers, said: “Pubs are a vital part of our high streets and social fabric in communities up and down the country. They have been hard hit by the pandemic, and Tory indifference and incompetence over many years means that many have gone to the wall.

“Ministers’ blanket approach to ending the furlough further threatens the future of many more. The furlough scheme must be extended for hard-hit sectors to save jobs now, and a ‘hospitality and high street fund’ must be established so local areas can target support at businesses still in distress.”

According to the ONS, small, independent pubs that employ fewer than ten people have been the worst affected, with their numbers falling by 24% between 2007 and 2019.

In 2019 the number of UK pubs went up by 315, the first increase in over a decade, but the pandemic has largely halted this recovery.

The pressure on the hospitality sector reflects wider struggles for local businesses and the high street, with one in ten shops standing empty even before the pandemic hit.

Labour has said this is part of a pattern of economic mismanagement from the government, as an Institute for Fiscal Studies report previously revealed we had the slowest recovery from a recession on record after the 2007 financial crash. British workers had also experienced 12 years of wage stagnation in that period.