Category Archives: Pubs

Can you have a community without craic? Scholars of Ireland’s pubs warn of declining numbers

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Two new books analyse what makes the ‘perfect pub’ and both come to a sobering conclusion: Irish pubs are in trouble

Like triple-distilled whiskey, Irish pubs appear to have timeless appeal. They are staple setting in films, books and plays, draw tourists to Ireland, replicate themselves around the world and induce social media quests for the perfect snug and the perfect pint.

Scholars have now bestowed academic imprimatur on this cultural treasure status by examining – and celebrating – pubs through the lens of history, sociology, architecture, psychology, design, art and literature.

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Pub chain Mitchells & Butlers faces £130m hit from rising wage and food costs

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Group, which also owns restaurant brands including Toby Carvery, feels impact of increase in employer NICs

The All Bar One owner, Mitchells & Butlers, has warned that it is facing about £130m in extra costs over the next year because of a soaring wage bill and rising food prices.

The group, which also owns brands including Toby Carvery, Harvester and Miller & Carter, said the cost increases were largely being driven by April’s increases to the minimum wage and employers’ national insurance contributions.

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‘We’re publicans’: County Limerick community forms syndicate to save village’s last pub

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Group in Kilteely pooled savings to buy bar and licence and ‘everybody brought something to the table’

A century ago, the County Limerick village of Kilteely had seven pubs but one by one they shut. This year, it braced to lose the last.

The economic and social trends that have shuttered family-run pubs across Ireland appear remorseless, leaving many communities with nowhere to meet, have a drink and share stories.

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Pubs in England and Wales allowed to stay open later for VE Day anniversary

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Venues to remain open until 1am as PM urges UK to come together to mark 80th anniversary on 8 May

Pubs will be allowed to stay open until 1am to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day, the UK prime minister has announced.

The government will allow pubs in England and Wales to close at 1am on 9 May to allow drinkers to continue celebrating into the early hours.

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Hospitality firms ‘to incur £1bn costs from employer NICs on 774,000 more workers’

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Industry body says businesses and jobs at risk unless Rachel Reeves’s tax changes delayed or altered

The hospitality industry will incur an extra £1bn of costs for 774,000 of its workers who will be newly eligible for employer national insurance contributions from April, endangering jobs and businesses, a leading industry body has claimed.

UKHospitality, which represents thousands of restaurants, hotels, pubs, cafes and nightclubs, is calling on the government to delay or alter changes to the tax announced in Rachel Reeves’s October’s budget in order to protect jobs.

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Smoking to be banned outside schools and hospitals, but pubs get reprieve

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Parliamentary bill will also ban the advertising of vapes and restrict their flavours, packaging and marketing

Smoking is set to be banned outside schools and hospitals as part of a crackdown on one of the UK’s biggest killers and its most common cause of cancer.

But the government has dropped plans to outlaw smoking outside pubs and restaurants, prompting health campaigners to complain about “vested interests” covertly influencing policy.

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Wetherspoon’s boss Tim Martin praises economic ‘pedigree’ of Rachel Reeves

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Brexit supporter calls for new chancellor to ‘rectify tax inequality’ in hospitality industry

Tim Martin, the politically outspoken boss of the JD Wetherspoon pub chain, has praised the new Labour chancellor’s economic “pedigree”, as he called for tax changes to help the struggling hospitality sector.

Martin regularly publishes economic and political commentary alongside his company’s results and has previously voiced support for Brexit and Boris Johnson.

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Britons switching to smaller, higher-quality alcoholic drinks, experts say

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Increasing preference said to be driven by desire to be healthier and is fuelling trend for 100ml taster bottles

As the adage goes: good things come in small packages. According to alcohol industry experts British consumers are increasingly choosing to enjoy their beverages in smaller portions, but of higher quality – fuelling a trend for 100ml taster bottles.

The shift comes from a desire to be healthier, experts say, with drinking among UK teenagers and young people falling. In June 2023, Tesco sold 25% more low- and non-alcoholic beer than in dry January.

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Britons cut back on dining out and buying clothes, Barclays reveals

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Annual card spending report says consumers are prioritising travel and nights out and buying value-range groceries amid cost of living crisis

Hard-pressed consumers cut back on eating out and buying new clothes to prioritise spending on travel, entertainment and a visit to the pub over the past year, as soaring inflation and rising bills sharply curtailed the rate of spending growth.

Consumer card spending increased by 4.1% year-on-year in 2023, almost two-thirds lower than the 10.6% rise in 2022, as the sharp increase in the cost of living took its toll on households.

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Tweaks to law on spiking ‘won’t help’ unless police attitude changes, say experts

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Home Office plans wording ‘update’ but campaigners call for new offence to help address low conviction rate

The Home Office has announced plans to “modernise” spiking laws in a move it claims will help bring perpetrators to justice. But experts said the changes will not make any difference without simultaneous investment in police training and other measures to improve the handling of cases on the ground.

Under plans unveiled this weekend, the government will amend the criminal justice bill to make clear that spiking is illegal. It is also drawing up new guidance to provide an “unequivocal” definition of the crime.

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Wetherspoon’s returns to profit for first time since Covid pandemic

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Cost of living crisis drives consumers to low-cost pub chain but company remains cautious

JD Wetherspoon has bounced back to profit for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic three years ago, as budget-conscious consumers flocked to the low-cost pub chain amid the cost of living crisis.

Wetherspoon’s, which runs about 830 pubs across the UK and Ireland, reported a pre-tax profit of almost £43m in the year to 30 July.

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Paranormal society keeps night’s watch on Crooked House pub site

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Group guards bricks until morning as local people tell of ‘major lack of trust’ over what could happen next

As large building machinery started arriving on the site of the Crooked House pub on Monday night, fears for the remains of the much-loved building grew – with locals wondering what might happen to it under the cover of darkness.

But one group of people used to staying up all night – the Black Country Paranormal Society – stepped in to guard the site perimeter and make sure all remaining bricks made it to the morning.

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‘It all disappeared with Brexit’: Craft beer boom ends as more than 100 UK firms go bust

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New trade barriers were compounded by Covid and tax changes

Kimi Karjalainen and his brother Marko poured their life savings into Bone Machine Brewing Co when it opened in Pocklington, East Yorkshire, in 2017 before moving to Hull, as part of the craft beer revolution that swept Britain.

“The entire investment, not including time and labour that we gave for free, was about £70,000,” Karjalainen said. Four weeks ago, it was gone. “That was my parents’ retirement.”

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The mystery of the Crooked House fire

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When Britain’s wonkiest pub was destroyed in a fire and the ruins demolished, it sparked protests and made headlines around the world – but why?

Thanks to a bad case of subsidence the Crooked House in the Black Country, had become a landmark. Punters talked about how its alarming lean made you feel drunk before you got to your pint, while badly made shelves were said to be ‘as straight as the Crooked House’.

But then it was bought by developers, caught fire and was immediately demolished. For many people it seemed like a symptom of how loved, local pubs were disappearing, while the nature of the pub’s destruction also raised interest across the country – and beyond.

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Other plans by Crooked House owners have caused anger in Midlands

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ATE Farms and associated firms attracted dozens of complaints before pub burned down in Staffordshire

The new owners of the Crooked House pub in Staffordshire, which was burned down in a fire and subsequently demolished, have angered local people in a series of other redevelopment plans across the Midlands.

Planning documents reveal ATE Farms, which bought the Crooked House from Marston’s brewery in July, and its associated companies have attracted dozens of complaints over plans that include building a solar farm and holiday lodges in the countryside, and redeveloping a village pub.

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Change planning laws to protect historic pub buildings, campaigners say

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Call for government to act amid anger over demolition of Crooked House pub in Staffordshire

The UK risks losing a vital part of its heritage unless planning laws are changed to protect historic pub buildings, campaigners have said.

Greg Mulholland, the director of Campaign for Pubs, said the growing anger over the fire and demolition of the Crooked House pub in Staffordshire must act as a “catalyst for change” in the approach to protecting historic pubs.

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Rise in UK breweries going bust amid thirst for cheaper craft beers

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45 breweries, mostly smaller makers, enter insolvency in last 12 months, up from 15 the previous year

The number of UK breweries going out of business has tripled in the past year, with smaller craft beer manufacturers most at risk as consumers opt for cheaper options during the cost of living crisis, according to research.

In total, 45 breweries entered insolvency in the 12 months ending 31 March, compared with 15 in the previous year, according to the most recent official Insolvency Service statistics analysed by Mazars, an audit, tax and advisory firm.

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April’s cold weather shows its time to fill our gardens with hardier plants, say experts

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Top gardeners advise use of tougher varieties that can cope with extremes of heat and cold as conditions disappoint growers

Gardeners are being urged to grow plants that can cope with extreme heat and cold after the Royal Horticultural Society was bombarded with letters from members asking why species they had cultivated successfully for years were now dying.

“It seems to be because of the temperature fluctuations,” said Nikki Barker, a senior horticultural adviser at the RHS. “We’ve gone from severe drought with an initially very mild autumn that turned cold. It’s the combination of weather patterns rather than one single event. And plants find it hard to deal with that fluctuation.”

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Essex pub that displayed golly dolls seized by police is vandalised

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White Hart Inn in Grays, which has been the subject of a reported hate crime, daubed with graffiti and has windows damaged

An Essex pub where police confiscated golly dolls has been vandalised with graffiti and damage to five windows occurring early on Sunday morning, police have said.

The incident occurred at about 12.40am at White Hart Inn in Grays. Essex police said they have deployed extra patrols in the area.

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Wetherspoon’s boss: hospitality holding off price rises could be ‘catastrophic’

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Tim Martin says Bank of England is right to ask firms to be mindful but advice should not be taken too literally

The boss of JD Wetherspoon has warned it could be “catastrophic” for pubs and restaurants to hold off raising prices as costs continue to soar, as the pub chain revealed that the “ferocious” impact of inflation has fuelled a dramatic increase in its bills.

Tim Martin said that Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, was right to warn companies to be mindful of how much they put up prices to avoid continuing to fuel an inflationary cycle, after the headline annual rate unexpectedly rose to 10.4% last month.

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