Like many British septuagenarians, David Charles Graves lived alone. The 75-year-old, known by everyone as Charlie, had no close friends or family; it’s perhaps why he became such a fixture at his local pub, the Ivy House in Nunhead, south east London. Ivy House regulars became as familiar with the sight of Charlie sipping a pint of Becks lager at the bar as they did with the pub’s quirky stage and furniture restored from the 1930s.
Charlie’s attachment to his local pub will resonate with many Britons. As far back as Roman times, when roadside inns offered comfort to travelers, pubs have occupied a unique place at the heart of British society. In Shakespeare’s time, there was roughly one pub for every 200 people and they feature in several of his plays— in Henry IV, for instance, Prince Hal, Falstaff and others constantly wander in and out of the Boar’s Head Tavern in Eastcheap, east London. George Orwell’s famous 1946 ‘Moon Under Water’ essay, describing the 10 key points of his ideal pub, notes that alongside draught stout, open fires, cheap meals, a garden and no radio, “the barmaids know most of their customers by name, and take a personal interest in everyone.”
Today, pubs still play a part in alleviating social isolation, particularly among elderly Britons like Charlie. Research by the University of Oxford shows that these watering holes can improve people’s engagement with their community and social network size, ultimately affecting how satisfied they feel in life.
Pubs have also become a high-ranking tourist attraction. According to research by the British tourist board, visiting a pub is the third most popular activity for international visitors to the U.K. Over time, the pub has become a symbol of the national spirit, and themed British pubs can be found in cities around the world.
Imagining Britain without pubs is like thinking of France without its café culture, New York City without yellow taxis or Tokyo without karaoke bars. But this defining national cornerstone is under threat. According to the Morning Advertiser, the U.K.’s leading trade newspaper for the pub sector, two public houses now close their doors for good every day. Is the good old British pub on its way to extinction?
Closing Time
Pubs have been declining in number for decades, but many believe England’s 2007 smoking ban, which put an end to smoking in all enclosed public and work places, exacerbated the trend.
Over the next eight years, the U.K. lost nearly 7,000 pubs, the majority of which were wet-led, meaning they only served drinks. “The smoking ban affected pubs enormously,” says Brigid Simmonds, CEO of the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), a major trade association. “A lot of pubs closed and many had to redefine themselves.” Some public houses branched out to offer food and accommodation; pubs now serve a billion meals a year and have 50,000 bedrooms attached to them.
But converting to a gastropub or inn is not an easy fix. Many pubs are located in Victorian, Edwardian or other historic buildings, which bind them to rigorous planning restrictions. These restrictions disincentivize investors who may have otherwise been interested in converting failing drinking dens into more profitable establishments. Climbing real estate prices, particularly in London, make pubs attractive prospects for developers—that is, if they have the permission to knock them down and build apartments instead.
Competition is also getting fiercer. Around 20 years ago, there were roughly 70,000 premises licensed to serve alcohol in the U.K.. Today, around 50,000 pubs and 70,000 other premises, from restaurants to coffee shops, have an alcohol license. “The sheer growth in the eating-out market over recent years means there’s massive competition,” says John Longden, founder of ‘Pub is the Hub,’ a not-for-profit group that offers support to licensees across the country. “You’ve got supermarkets selling beers, wine and spirits at a cheaper price than pubs, so people will drink at home. And now, the younger market is saying ‘actually we’re not drinking.’”Indeed, government research published in May 2017 demonstrates a generational shift away from alcohol; 26% of the U.K.’s 16-to- 24-year-olds are teetotalers, compared with just 17% of 25-to-44-year-olds and 14% of those aged 45 to 64.
Tastes are changing in other ways too; beer consumption is falling, with more than half of 25-to-34-year-olds now favoring wine instead. A Nielsen poll found that sales of sparkling wine surged by 14.7% in 2016, and an overview by the Wine and Spirit Trade Association that same year found that nearly half of all drinks sold in new pubs, bars and restaurants were wine and spirits and not the more traditional pints of froth-topped ale.
High tax on beer—making up around a third of the cost of a pint—has further contributed to pubs’ woes. The last center-left Labour Party government introduced a now-defunct “duty escalator” policy in 2008, justifying the price hike in the budget with: “as incomes have risen, alcohol has become increasingly more affordable.” The move, which increased the price of a pint by 2% above inflation, had a devastating effect on the sector, with industry experts claiming the policy reduced sales of beer by as much as 16%. The closure of around 5,000 pubs can be linked to the Labour policy, according to Tim Page, chief executive of consumer organization The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). The escalator was axed in 2013 following heavy lobbying, but its effects are still felt by the U.K.’s pubs and brewing industry.
A great disparity between the cost of alcohol in pubs and supermarkets is another major issue; when six 275ml bottles of Beck’s lager cost £5.10 ($7.19) in Tesco, one of Britain’s biggest supermarket chains, spending the same amount if not more on one pint in a pub is not a particularly attractive prospect. “If you want pubs to survive decades down the road, then it’s common sense that you can’t tax them more heavily than what is the market rate,” says Tim Martin, founder and chairman of pub group JD Wetherspoon, which has 900 establishments around the British Isles.
All this is in the shadow of Brexit, the U.K.’s looming March 2019 exit from the European Union, bringing with it uncertainty and division.
Some pub owners believe Brexit could turn things around for them; a poll conducted shortly before the 2016 referendum found that more small-food-service operators said they would vote to leave rather than remain. Martin was a major Brexit backer; he even printed 200,000 coasters calling for the U.K. to “take back control.” He believes that without the E.U.’s high tariffs on food and drink imports, their prices will decrease and pubs will flourish.
A great disparity between the cost of alcohol in pubs and supermarkets is another major issue; when six 275ml bottles of Beck’s lager cost £5.10 ($7.19) in Tesco, one of Britain’s biggest supermarket chains, spending the same amount if not more on one pint in a pub is not a particularly attractive prospect. “If you want pubs to survive decades down the road, then it’s common sense that you can’t tax them more heavily than what is the market rate,” says Tim Martin, founder and chairman of pub group JD Wetherspoon, which has 900 establishments around the British Isles.
All this is in the shadow of Brexit, the U.K.’s looming March 2019 exit from the European Union, bringing with it uncertainty and division.
Some pub owners believe Brexit could turn things around for them; a poll conducted shortly before the 2016 referendum found that more small-food-service operators said they would vote to leave rather than remain. Martin was a major Brexit backer; he even printed 200,000 coasters calling for the U.K. to “take back control.” He believes that without the E.U.’s high tariffs on food and drink imports, their prices will decrease and pubs will flourish.