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Beer today, gone tomorrow?
The traditional British boozer is in dire straits. The smoking ban, cheap supermarket deals, higher beer taxes and the credit crunch are all hitting it hard. Neil Hudson asks if 2009 will be the year the traditional pub dries up...
It's reckoned 35 pubs disappear from our streets every week in the UK – last year Leeds lost 12 boozers and this year looks set to be even worse.
The most recent pub closure announcement was for The Middleton Arms – whose landlord Lee Brown, 33, made the frank submission: "The pub trade is knackered" – but that is just the latest in a long list of public houses which have gone under.
Those in the industry complain about increasing competition from supermarkets selling branded booze at knock-down prices – a pint of Stella Artois will cost up to 3 in the pub but around 80p if you buy in bulk from Tesco.
Then there's the impact of the smoking ban and most recently the Government's decision to impose a duty escalator on beer, meaning the price will increase above inflation for at least the next four years.
Add to this the fact many landlords are tied to buying overpriced ale from certain breweries and the fact most English pubs are owned by large property companies who often impose restrictive covenants on failed pubs–- thereby preventing them from being re-opened as new pubs – and it's not difficult to see why many believe the pub trade is in a mess.So with the added pressure of the credit crunch, will 2009 be the year the traditional pub died? There are many who fear it will, but still hope against hope that their fears will not come true.
Pub enthusiast Steve Draper, 50, a carpet measurer from Burley, who has taken an interest in preserving the memory of Leeds's pubs, said: "I've been going into pubs since the 1970s, I remember the King Charles, which is where the Schofield Centre is now.
"Many of them were landmarks, to the extent people used them to navigate by, and still do.
"Things were bad a year ago but they are even worse now. With the credit crunch, going down the pub is an easy thing to stop doing.
"I think the Government missed a trick at the last budget and that was to impose higher taxes on off-sales, which would have hit supermarkets and helped pubs."
He added: "The smoking ban has made a big difference to certain pubs and while they may not have been the kind of places everyone went, they served a valuable purpose.
"Of course, one area where pubs are doing rather well – and indeed, new ones are opening – is along the road from Headingley to the University, fuelled by students, who have the money."
Pubs which closed last year include The Skinners Arms, Sheepscar; The Wagon and Horses in Holbeck; The White Stag in Mabgate; and The Golden Lion in Wortley.
Other well-known 'landmark' boozers are on the market.
Among them are The Old Red Lion, on the A64 York Road, which is under offer, and the White Hart, Armley Road, on the market for rent (50,000 a year) or sale at 595,000.
The decline in the pub trade is not confined to Leeds either.
In Dewsbury, The Station Hotel, Crackenedge Lane, Dewsbury, a grade II listed building next to the market, is up for sale for 225,000.
The White Hart Hotel, Wellington Street, Batley, is on the market for 215,000.
In Ossett, the Weavers Arms, Storrs Hill Road, can be snapped up for 200,000, and offers are invited for the Barfield Arms, Batley and the Whitegate, Mirfield, both well known boozers locally.
Carl Lockwood, publicity officer for Leeds Camra, said: "Pubs are the hubs of our communities, it's sad when any pub closes. They are community centres in all but name."High prices are driving people away. One thing the Government can do is look at the tax on beer. We would like to see a more even playing field when it comes to the supermarkets. It's great that you can go buy cheap brand lager in a supermarket but pubs need to be given more help."
His colleague John Thornton, pubs officer for Leeds CAMRA, added: "The Beer Orders of 1989, which were brought in to increase competition and break the ties between pubs and breweries, were a disaster. They were meant to increase competition but they did the opposite. I'd like to see local planners treat pubs as essential local amenities to make it harder to convert them into other things, like flats."
Paul Dixie, from the Dewsbury CAMRA branch, said: "Pub closures have really accelerated and part of that is due to the credit crunch and the smoking ban but the increase on beer tax has had a nasty effect."The Government does not seem to realise the social good pubs do. They get people to interact, encourage them to meet new people. If people sit at home they become less social and less sympathetic to strangers.
"We need to find ways of getting people back into pubs.
"To some degree pubs have been misrepresented. There is a stereotype of binge drinking, but its very rare you see that in traditional pub drinking."
Greg Mulholland, Lib Dem MP for Leeds North West, sits on the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group, a pressure group which lobbies Government for reductions in tax on real ale and to make things easier for landlords.
He recently tabled a Commons motion calling for the practice of imposing restrictive covenants on failed pubs to be outlawed.
He said: "Anyone who thinks there is a free market is delusional. What we have at the moment is effectively a cartel – a few large companies who control most of the pubs. The situation was created by accident following the Beer Orders of the late 1980s, which were meant to give people more choice but have resulted in a situation which has seen many pubs going to the wall.
Property
"The people who own pubs now are essentially property companies and have little interest in brewing.
"I think there should be a lower tax on real ale and we need to look at minimum pricing, particularly in supermarkets.
"Every time a pub closes, it's not only a loss to the community but our heritage. We need Government to wake up to the reality of the situation facing pubs. Firstly, they need to reverse the very ill-conceived duty increase on beer.
"One area we need to look at is licensees being tied to a particular brewery and buying beer from them, sometimes at prices way over the odds.
"Another area is that of pub companies imposing restrictive covenants on pubs which have closed, essentially to protect their own profits, but what this does is stop anyone else taking on that pub. I have submitted a Commons motion about this, which should be heard in the next few weeks."
Six notable pubs lost in Leeds
The City of Mabgate, Mabgate, which won a CAMRA award and sports beautiful green tiles on the outside. Closed. Due to be turned into flats.
The Engine, Hunslet, a good local pub now surrounded by scaffolding. Closed.
The Chained Bull, Moortown, whose name was unique. It had a history stretching back hundreds of years and was the only pub in the area. Rebuilt in the 19830s but demolished six months ago and is now a car park for M&S.
The Beckett's Arms, Meanwood, which has been turned into flats.
The Shoulder of Mutton, Potternewton Lane, now standing derelict.
Fforde Grene Hotel, Leeds, which has a long history and was a notable music venue in the 1980s and hosted the Sex Pistols and the Stranglers. Now a continental supermarket.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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