Pub closures rise sharply in first half of the year
The overall number of pubs in England and Wales, including those vacant and being offered to let, fell to 39,404 at the end of the second quarter of 2023 to 30June, down from 39,634 pubs on 31March 2023, data from the commercial real estate intelligence company Altus Group shows.
During the second quarter of the year closure rates were around 77 a month, up 50% from the 51 a month lost during the first quarter of 2023.
Altus Group’s pub tracker also reveals that, during the first half of 2023, between 1January and 30June 2023, a total of 383 pubs ‘vanished’ from the communities that they once served having either been demolished and/or converted into other types of use such as homes, offices or even day nurseries. This is compared with the 386 pubs that were lost for good during the whole of 2022, it says.
Wales lost the greatest number of pubs during the first six months of the year, with 52 closing. The London and North West regions lost 46 pubs each during the same period.
Looming tax rises for pubs could see the rate of pub closures increase, Altus warns. Pubs, leisure and retail business currently get a 75% discount off their business rates bills for the 2023/2024 tax year up to a cap of £110,00 per business but this is set to end on 31 March next year.
Business rates are also set to rise next April in line with September’s headline rate of inflation, which could also add more than 6% to bills next year, it says.
“With energy costs up 80% year -on-year in a low-growth, high-inflation and high interest rates environment, the last thing pubs need is an average business rates hike of £12,385 next year,” says Alex Probyn, president of property tax at Altus Group.
