37 Pubs A Month ‘Vanished’ In 2020

During the 2020 calendar year, around 37 pubs a month, ‘vanished’ from English and Welsh communities that they once served having called last orders for the final time down 6% on 2019 despite the pandemic.

Analysis of official Government data by the real estate adviser Altus Group, shows that the overall number of pubs in England and Wales, liable for business rates, including those vacant and being offered to let, fell to 40,617 on 31st December 2020 down 446 compared with 41,063 on 31st December 2019.

Pubs which have ‘vanished’ from the communities that they once served have either been demolished and/or converted into other types such as homes and offices with the rate also down 51% on the 914 in 2018.

Pubs in England and Wales are receiving a 1-year business rates holiday worth £768.12 million and were eligible for £557.94 million in grant funding worth either £10,000 or £25,000 per pub at the start of the pandemic last Spring.

Robert Hayton, who is Head of Property Tax at Altus Group, said “Pubs and restaurants bore the brunt of coronavirus restrictions in 2020 but proved remarkably resilient aided by Government interventions such as furlough, grants, rates relief and liquidity in the form of cheap loans.”

Last week the Treasury said that one-off top up grants again linked to business rates would be provided to help closed retail, leisure and hospitality businesses negate the economic impact of the third national lockdown.

Payments of £4,000 will be available for businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or less, £6,000 for businesses with a rateable value of between £15,000 and £51,000, and £9,000 for businesses with a rateable value of more than £51,000.

Hayton says the top up grants for pubs will provide an additional £239.14 million in support adding “We warned of a rent debt crisis without increased levels of targeted support and this additional funding will ease those fears. The Chancellor should be commended for the swift action he took.”