More than 150 pubs have closed permanently across English and Welsh communities over the first three months of 2023, according to new figures.

The rate of pubs being demolished or redeveloped for other purposes has increased by almost 60%, to 153, at the start of the year as bumper energy bills have hammered the sector.

The figures come as soaring energy costs, rising food prices and weakened consumer demand pile pressure on landlords.

Responding to figures showing pub closures have surged in the first quarter of this year, Emma McClarkin Chief Executive of the British Beer and Pub Association said:  

“Energy bills are decimating our sector with extortionate costs wiping out profits and closing pubs at a faster rate than the pandemic. Pubs that were profitable and thriving before the energy crisis are being left with no option but to shut up shop. We have been raising the alarm for months that energy costs are posing an existential threat to pubs across the country and these figures are evidence of that.  

“It is essential that the Government intervenes to ensure energy suppliers are offering the option of renegotiation to pubs locked into unmanageably high energy contracts. Make no mistake, the longer this goes on the more pubs will be lost forever in communities across the country, something must be done immediately to save them.”