High energy costs have been blamed for “staggering” closure rates since last year
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Thousands of pubs in the UK may be forced to shut down this year due to soaring gas prices, the Daily Mail has reported.
More than 1,000 pubs closed in the UK in 2022, including 485 in the first six months of the year and another 554 between July and December – “a staggering rate of 21 per week,” the Mail reported on Sunday, citing figures from consumer organization the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).
The British pub industry was hit hard by Covid-related restrictions in 2020 and 2021. Last year saw gas prices skyrocket amid the economic fallout from the Ukraine conflict and sanctions against Russia, which was a major European gas supplier.
Some pubs have reported a tripling of their monthly electricity bills, with one owner being charged a “whopping £2,097 [$2,600] for just 10 days’ worth of energy,” the Daily Mail reported.
The figures come as the UK government’s Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which had capped energy costs, came to an on Friday. A new plan providing discounts on high energy bills to non-domestic energy users has now come into force and will run for a year.
The initiative is aimed at helping businesses that were locked into energy contracts when the prices were at their highest. Wholesale energy prices have started falling in recent months and have now gone back to levels just before the start of the conflict in Ukraine. However, according to the government, the reductions may not have been passed on to businesses.
The Federation of Small Businesses has dismissed the measures, claiming they won’t help business owners pay their bills, Sky News reported last week.
CAMRA estimates that some 6,000 small independent pubs are facing financial ruin.
CAMRA member and beer shop owner Dave Hayward claimed to the Daily Mail that “the industry has months left. After that, we’re going to see an absolute bloodbath.”
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