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New tier restrictions will cause carnage to pub sector unless the Government steps in now
BBPA says over 30,000 pubs in England will either be forced to remain closed or be rendered unviable due to 99% of the country being placed under tighter tier two and tier three restrictions The British Beer & Pub Association, the leading trade association representing brewers and pubs, has today revealed that tighter tier two and tier three restrictions being placed on almost every English region as announced today will have a devastating impact on over 30,000 pubs – four in five pubs in England. The trade association has said that 16,454 pubs will be forced to close as they are in tier three regions. Of the 21,091 pubs that are in regions classified as tier two, 13,920 pubs will either remain closed because they don’t serve substantial meals, or will be financially unviable due to the impact on revenue of the additional restrictions, including no household mixing and only serving alcohol with meals. Despite the perilous position pubs find themselves in, the Government is not providing sufficient support to them, the trade association says. At present, grants for pubs are as low as £1,300 a month – not even enough to cover basic fixed costs. This, the BBPA says, means many will be forced to close unless the Government changes its approach, or provides them with the level of grants they need, like it did during the first lockdown. The sector is so dismayed by the Government’s approach that last night over 50 brewing and pub businesses, representing 20,000 pubs and accounting for over 90% of the beer brewed in Britain, wrote to the Prime Minister to outline the mass closures of pubs his decisions will bring, unless he changes his approach. The letter states that pubs are “clearly being singled out for exceptionally harsh and unjustified treatment” and that unless the Prime Minister “changes course, and soon, huge portions of this most British of institutions will simply not be there come the Spring.” It goes on to say that publicans up and down the country have met the Winter Economy plan with “utter dismay and incredulity”, stating that “pubs are being scapegoated despite a lack of available evidence”. This also has a devastating impact on the brewers that are reliant on them. The letter calls for the Prime Minister to publish evidence justifying the extra restrictions placed on pubs, or if not, reconsider them. The letter says that if the Prime Minister remains committed to his “course of action, forcing pubs to pay the price of relaxed restrictions elsewhere”, he must also recognise that pubs need more help and deliver grants of up to £12,000 per month to cover their fixed costs. Emma McClarkin, Chief Executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, said: “With 99% of the country under tighter tier two or tier three restrictions, there will be carnage unless the Government acts immediately. Pubs face full closure if they are drinks led or in tier three. We need the Government to recognise the impact of these restrictions and urgently provide more financial support. “We cannot overstate how serious the situation is currently facing our staff, communities and businesses. The future of hundreds of breweries, thousands of pubs and tens-of-thousands of jobs hangs in the balance. The focal point of countless communities in every region of the UK could be lost forever, the social consequences of that do not bear thinking about.” Ralph Findlay, Chief Executive of Marston’s, said: “In early July, we were credited for having opened safely and responsibly. Since the end of September, the UK Government has leaked, launched, and layered a labyrinth of legislation on pubs, and pubgoers and our employees are paying a heavy price. This latest plan smacks of the fog of politics, and the Prime Minister has lost his way.” Nick Mackenzie, Greene King Chief Executive, said: “The winter plan is another crushing blow for pubs and we have been unfairly singled out with punishing and unjustified restrictions that will make pubs across the country unviable through the most important month of the year. There is no clear evidence to show why it’s safe to have a meal and a drink in a restaurant, or mix socially behind closed doors at home over Christmas, but you can’t have a pint in a pub. “The industry has invested millions of pounds making their premises covid secure and closure costs us millions of pounds every week. We ask the government to urgently reconsider these disproportionate measures, such as banning the sale of alcohol in Tier 2 unless it’s with a substantial meal, and work constructively with the hospitality sector to find solutions and deliver tailored support before it’s too late, especially for drink-led pubs. “Pubs are the heartbeat of communities and play a key role in combatting loneliness and isolation which is even more important as we head towards Christmas.” William Lees-Jones, Managing Director of JW Lees, said: “We are feeling very disappointed by the government’s current attitude towards pubs, especially when we have made our pubs safe places to be with investment and training. We are bearing the financial brunt of the Winter Plan, with all of JW Lees tenants paying no rent, beer stocks built up ready for Christmas and pubs ready to re-open next week. “We expect reasonable compensation from government since the current grants and furlough support in no way make up for the pub sector being sacrificed at our busiest time of the year. We estimate that the current proposed measures will cost JW Lees around £2 million which is 1/3 of a normal year’s annual profits owing to the timing of the restrictions.”
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Over 50 pub and brewing businesses send letter to PM saying pubs are being ‘Scapegoated’ and could be lost forever
Dear Prime Minister Pubs and brewers cast adrift and in crisis We are writing today to impress upon you the seriousness of the situation facing our nation’s pubs and brewers. We represent businesses who between them employ hundreds of thousands of people and contribute billions of pounds of economic value to the UK economy. All of this is at risk today, but so is much more besides. The pub is clearly being singled out for exceptionally harsh and unjustified treatment and unless your Government changes course, and soon, huge portions of this most British of institutions will simply not be there come the Spring. We know these are unprecedented and extraordinary times. We have sacrificed our businesses and stepped up to support the fight against Coronavirus every step of the way. Closing our businesses, investing millions to reopen them as COVID secure environments to ensure the British people had somewhere to socialise safely and reconnect with their communities again. We also pioneered the development of the NHS Test & Trace system before it was fully operational - again at the Government’s request - doing our part to protect lives as well as livelihoods. This has come at a huge cost to us and the crisis facing our sector is very real. Despite this reality, your Winter Plan, compounded by the Christmas announcement, have been greeted with utter dismay and incredulity by publicans up and down the country, and made the situation facing us exponentially worse. How can it be that people mixing in unregulated private homes is deemed safer than gathering in limited numbers in larger, regulated and ultimately COVID-secure venues like pubs? There is no logic to this decision. Heading into what would have been our most valuable trading period, thousands of businesses are now facing total failure and local communities unable to enjoy a drink and a meal in the perfectly secure environment of their local pub over Christmas. It is clear that pubs are being scapegoated despite a lack of available evidence that they are any more responsible for outbreaks than other types of venue. If anything, having invested tens of millions of pounds in making our venues COVID-secure, the publicly available evidence from Public Health England indicates that pubs are far less of a risk than many other environments. We believe it is in the interests of openness and transparency that any evidence showing pubs to be the source of outbreaks of the virus, and thereby justifying these extra restrictions, must be published immediately. Otherwise this decision must be reconsidered. We cannot stand idly by and allow these measures to destroy our businesses. We owe it to our staff and customers to ensure that these decisions are being made based on evidence. If you remain committed to this course of action, forcing pubs to pay the price of relaxed restrictions elsewhere, you must also recognise that we need more sector specific help. Our businesses need a more sustainable round of grants for pubs in line with the first lockdown to adequately cover ongoing fixed costs, with payment as soon as possible. As a minimum: Pubs with a rateable value of less than £15k should be eligible for a grant of £3,000 per month Pubs with a rateable value of between £15-£51k should be eligible for a grant of £6,000 per month Pubs with a rateable value of between £51k-£100K should be eligible for a grant of £9,000 per month Pubs with a rateable value of more than £100K should be eligible for a grant of £12,000 per month Our analysis indicates that if two-thirds of the country were in tiers 2 or 3, just over 20,000 drinks-led pubs alone, in communities throughout the UK, would either be forced to close or close because they would be unviable. This would result in nearly £1bn in lost turnover in December alone and a quarter of a million pub workers being unable to work and at risk of permanent unemployment, plus more than 80,000 jobs at risk along the supply chain and in the local economy. This is in addition to the impact of all food-led pubs that would be forced to close in tier 3 and the significant impact on turnover of Covid-related restrictions for those pubs that are able to open in tiers 1 and 2. This enhanced regime would make all the more urgent an increase in the state aid cap in line with the Commission’s new €3m limit – and potentially more once the UK is no longer subject to EU rules. It is also vital that pubs receive an early signal that the business rates holiday will be extended beyond March 2021, this will provide publicans and pub owners with a degree of certainty going into the year ahead. A cut to the punitively high beer duty rate and extending the hospitality VAT cut beyond March, but also from 1st January 2021, to 5% for all drinks sold in pubs, would make a huge difference to those community pubs that can trade. We cannot overstate how serious the situation facing our staff, communities and businesses is at this stage, the future of hundreds of breweries and thousands of pubs hangs in the balance. The focal point of countless communities in every region of the UK could be lost forever, the social consequences of that do not bear thinking about. It would be nothing less than heartbreaking if, having survived through the last nine months, working tirelessly to put in place countless safety measures, pubs now face ruin with the end of the pandemic in sight. Moreover, the support the Government has given us up to this point would all be for nothing, a colossal waste of resource only to end up in a much worse position than we were just a few months ago. The looming disaster is avoidable, but only if you act now. Our pubs provide light in the darkness for many. We ask you to give light to our sector in our darkest of moments. Yours sincerely, BBPA and members
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Chancellor’s missed opportunity to SAVE great British pub and jobs
BBPA says Chancellor should be investing to SAVE existing jobs in sectors like pubs and hospitality, in addition to investing in new jobs The British Beer & Pub Association, the leading trade association representing brewers and pubs, has today responded to the Chancellor’s Spending Review. The trade association has said the Chancellor’s decision to invest in new jobs, but not do more to save thousands of pub jobs that already exist, is ‘staggering’. With the tightening of restrictions and no additional support given to the pub sector today by the Chancellor, the trade association has said thousands of pub closures and job losses are now inevitable, unless the Government delivers the support pubs need as a matter of urgency. Emma McClarkin, Chief Executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, said: “The lack of action by the Chancellor to save pubs and jobs by giving them the proper support they need is staggering. It seems pubs have now been cast adrift by the Government. To save businesses and jobs the Chancellor needs to come back to the House this week and set out an enhanced package of support ahead of the new tier system coming into effect. “Not only is the Government unfairly rendering pubs unviable or forcing many of them to stay closed this Christmas, it isn't even giving them the full financial support they need to survive. Whilst the news of a review of business rates reliefs in the New Year is a glimmer of positive news, it is not nearly enough. “It’s all well and good investing in new jobs, but the actions of this Government are killing viable pub businesses and thousands of jobs that already exist. Yet the Government is not doing enough right now to help them survive nor Britain’s brewers that are reliant on them. “If our sector isn't allowed to trade properly, or at all, how on earth can the Chancellor expect it to survive and protect the livelihoods of the thousands of people working in it? Adequate grants need to be given to pubs urgently or they simply won't survive the new tier restrictions or Christmas. “The Government must do more to help our pubs, the livelihoods they support and the communities they serve across the UK. If not, this really could be the end of the pub in Britain as we know it.”