Pubs face a “bleak” future as costs climb and customers clamp down on discretionary spend, City Pub Company chairman Clive Watson has said.
Speaking to the BBC, Watson said the 45-strong bar business has placed refurbishment plans on hold and closed kitchens at quiet times because of rising food and energy prices.
While Christmas bookings are ahead of 2019 levels, spend per head has declined “the office credit card isn’t as flexible as it has been in the past”.
“I don’t want to be sensationalist about it, but it is bleak,” Watson told the BBC. “After Christmas, trade is always very quiet and, I think, it is going to be a long haul for operators who, let’s face it, have had two years of Covid challenges.
“These are businesses who have been through a lot of pain already. To go into the new year with all the high costs we have talked about, plus consumers feeling the pinch as well, I genuinely fear for a lot of pubs’ long-term survival.”
The combination of staff shortages, higher operating costs, and decline in spend has made pub operators reluctant to invest in expansion.
“Why would I open a new pub in Cardiff for Newport if I am struggling to get the staff into existing pubs?” Watson added. “We are curtailing our expansion and refurbishment [plans], and really just focusing on what we have got.”
