Publicans Express Dismay at Claims That Later Opening Hours Will Save Pubs and Boost Economic Growth

Publicans up and down the country have expressed concerns following the announcement that pubs will somehow be ‘saved’ by being allowed to stay open into the early hours.

The Government has announced a review of licensing laws with the stated aim of extending opening hours for pubs, clubs, and restaurants in England and Wales (Scotland would be unaffected).

The reported goal is to boost the night-time economy and support the struggling hospitality sector, however according to campaign group Campaign for Pubs it will do neither of these things and is yet another example of how little the current Government understands (or it seems cares about) pubs and stopping them closing.

Later opening hours, the campaign group said, is not something that publicans have asked for, nor is it something that will make any difference to getting pubs through the cost of living crisis.

The reality is that as a direct result of the Government’s disastrous cost hikes in the last Budget, many pubs have had to reduce opening hours and cut staff numbers and hours. Allowing most pubs to stay open longer is completely meaningless, when already pubs are shutting earlier than usual just to reduce costs and stay afloat.

Staying open later would mean higher energy bills and staff costs, something many publicans couldn’t even contemplate at the moment at a time when the combined impact of the Government’s National Insurance and wage hikes plus sky high energy bills are making it difficult for many landlords to make a living.

In reality, the only few premises that would benefit from this would be city centre bars, that are not the venues that are really struggling at the moment.

Worse still, many of the media articles claim that the measure has been “welcomed by the hospitality industry” whereas in fact, publicans and independent publicans’ representative groups have not been consulted, only those who represent large pub owning companies (often when these companies do not even run the pubs themselves, but merely see this as another opportunity to increase rents and beer prices on hard pressed pub tenants).

Commenting Dawn Hopkins, Vice Chair of the Campaign for Pubs and the licensee of the Rose Pub and Deli, Norwich said:
“Longer opening hours won’t keep pubs open. What we need is real support — lower VAT, help with energy bills, and fairer business rates. Around one pub a day is closing, taking staff, small breweries, and local suppliers down with it.

“Instead of meaningless measures creating absurd headlines, the Government needs to wake up to the situation pubs are in and reduce the cost burden on pubs, through a VAT cut, business rates reform and action to bring down energy costs for small businesses. Yet no one ever asks the people actually running pubs — you’d think listening to publicans might be the intelligent place to start.”

Paul Crossman, Chair of the Campaign for Pubs and a licensee of the Swan, Slip and Volunteer Arms in York said:
“The Government is plain wrong if it thinks the woes of the pub and hospitality industry are in any way due to the licensing laws at this point, and it is actually insulting to hard-pressed publicans to see these reforms framed as any kind of solution to the ongoing crisis in the industry.

“In reality the ground level crisis facing pubs and hospitality boils down to a toxic combination of the ever-rising costs involved in running a hospitality business and reduced customer spend amid the ongoing cost of living crisis. That is why in reality most pubs have already curtailed their opening hours, while nightclubs have closed in droves.

“These are the immediate issues that the Government should focus their attention upon by heeding desperate universal calls for action on VAT, employers NI, energy costs and business rates. We need action in all those areas and more if pubs, nightclubs and wider hospitality are to have any chance of recovering, not a tweak to licensing laws which, in practice, will only likely further benefit off-licences and supermarkets seeking to sell cheap unsupervised alcohol further into the night.

“Meanwhile the growth potential of our own domestic brewers and other suppliers is being squandered as they are actively excluded from accessing most of their own local pub market due to contractual “tied” product supply arrangements which hugely favour generic global brands, and which are imposed and strictly enforced by corporate pub owners. If the Govt really wants the UK’s pubs to be able to help boost national economic growth, then the ongoing corporate abuse of the sector is one specific and crucial area where it could and should be taking urgent action.”