Coventry pub landlords plea for help as price hikes and cost of living leaves many on brink

[dutchman]

Boozers across Coventry and Warwickshire are struggling to make ends meet



More city centre and village pubs will go bust without government intervention. That's the stark message from pub landlords across Coventry and Warwickshire who are struggling to make ends meet.

Hospitality was hit harder by Covid than any other industry with pubs, bars, nightclubs, hotels and cafes the last to resurface as society began to open up post-lockdowns. No sooner had the sector got the measure of the coronavirus pandemic, the cost of living crisis took over to lay siege to a weary UK economy.

Pubs are feeling the pinch and having to making the ultimate sacrifice. More than 50 pubs closed in the West Midlands last year, with the rising cost of supplies and energy bills the primary instigators.

The situation is simply not sustainable according to landlords across our region, Martin McKeown included. Mr McKeown, who runs The Gatehouse Tavern in Hill Street, told CoventryLive: "We're trying to do more things, different things to bring people in, but people only have so much money to spend.

"The government needs to act and offer the sector some support. We are keeping our heads above water at the moment, but we're not looking forward to the increase in energy costs in March and the council rates going back to full pay in April.

"That is going to hurt a lot of people. Every week we're buying something that has just gone up and we can't keep passing this on to customers.

"We've got the benefit of not having to pay massive rent. Other people have got high rents and heating bills so I understand why pubs are closing because it's killing them off."

Dave Mehta, general manager at The Auction House in Station Avenue, Tile Hill, is "feeling the pinch" like many other landlords. He too called on the government to intervene.

"Even if it's dropping the duty on beer or a helping hand financially," he said. "Our bills are three times bigger than a domestic household. Our electricity bill is around £1,000 a month. Add in gas and water and it's more like £1,500 a month.

"Then you've got your Sky and BT subscriptions to bring people in. You've got to buy your stock, which keeps on going up, pay for your bin collections and everything else. It's just not sustainable."

Few places have felt the force of Covid and chronic inflation more than Nuneaton which has lost two famous old pubs in recent weeks. The Hare and Hounds off Heath End Road fell victim just a few weeks after The Horseshoes, though the brewery Everards still hopes to find someone to take it on.

"Absolutely, we need the government's help," said Ash Handley, bar supervisor at the Crows Nest in Crowhill Road. "A tax cut would definitely help - that's what needs to happen because everyone is in the same boat.

"As a company we've had to look at a few things. People want to be out and enjoying a drink, but they can't. It's not necessarily the price of drinks it's the cost of living in general that's having an affect on everyone.

"It's been a very hard time for the town. Our pub is in a well-off part of Nuneaton and it's been the same for us."

At the end of 2022 there were 4,047 pubs across the West Midlands, down from 4,101 at the end of 2021 according to figures from the British Beer and Pub Association, which has been critical of the government's perceived failure to protect the licensing trade from 'profiteering' energy suppliers. The region lost 54 pubs, but the number of boozers across Great Britain to call time during that period was actually 448.