Pub sector continues to struggle

Shepherd Neame, the real ale brewer, recently warned that pubs will be forced out of business after Chancellor Alistair Darling’s tax on alcohol was hiked 6%

As a result, Shepherd Neame warned that 80,000 job losses could go in the industry.

Research shows there are 4 pubs going out of business in the UK each day as they are unable to compete with cheap alcohol in the supermarket. Last month, supermarkets sold about 45% of alcohol in the UK.

Furthermore, falling trade due to the consumer slowdown and the smoking ban which was implemented last July, has also had an impact on the pub trade.

Last month, alcohol sales fell 7.6% even though the month had two Bank Holidays.

Analysts believe this month will deliver poor results from the pub sector with sales down 10% or more.

Enterprise Inns, which runs 7,000 pubs, said trade is suffering and said last month trading conditions continued to be challenging.

Earlier this week, Punch Taverns saw its shares dive 25½p while Mitchells and Butlers were down 17¼p.

In 1980, there were 69,000 pubs in operation in the UK, today there are 57,000 pubs.

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