‘Need Govt Intervention’: UK Pubs Fear Mass Closures as Energy Crisis Worsens

The six biggest British pub and brewing firms claimed that some pubs have seen a three-fold hike in bills in 2022.

British pubs may be forced to close their doors after a massive increase in energy prices, industry figures urging the government to step in said on Tuesday, 30 August.

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British pubs may be forced to close their doors after a massive increase in energy prices, industry figures urging the government to step in said on Tuesday, 30 August.

The six biggest British pub and brewing firms said that some pubs have seen more than a three-fold hike in bills in 2022, in connection to a larger wider cost of living crisis.

JW Lees pub group Managing Director William Lees Jones said, “We have publicans who are experiencing 300-percent-plus increases in energy costs and some energy companies are refusing to even quote for supply,” news agency AFP reported.

Jones added, ”In some instances, tenants are giving us notice since their businesses do not stack up with energy at these costs."

Chief Executive Nick Mackenzie said that one pub tenant in the Greene King group, which operates over 2700 similar establishments, has seen a £33,000 increase in their energy bill in 2022.

Mackenzie was quoted by AFP as saying:

"While the government has introduced measures to help households cope with this spike in prices, businesses are having to face this alone, and it is only going to get worse come the autumn.”

He added that without “immediate government intervention” to help support pubs and breweries, the sector could reach a point where pubs would be unable to pay their bills and would also see the loss of jobs.

He also said that “all the good work done to keep pubs open during the pandemic could be wasted."

Pubs Urge Govt To Extend Energy Price Cap

With a large number of strikes over salaries that have been unable to maintain pace with rising processes, UK’s cost of living crisis has seen inflation soar to a 40-year-high.

The companies – Greene King, JW Lees, Carlsberg Marston's, Admiral Taverns, Drake & Morgan and St Austell Brewery – reportedly urged the government to extend the price cap on energy prices to businesses as well.

Energy regulator Ofgem announced that the average household is set to see a tremendous 80 percent increase in the prices of gas and electricity prices from October, with even higher bills expected January onwards.

The number of pubs in England and Wales dropped below 40,000 for the first time every during the first six months of 2022.

The British Beer and Pub Association said that energy piece rises, caused by a rise in wholesale costs and a shortage of suppled due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, could further damage the sector is the pandemic if nothing is done.

(With inputs from AFP.)