Save our pubs! And keep the heart of the community alive…

According to a recent survey by the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), 11 pubs are closing every week in London, with the loss of 281 pubs in the first half of 2009.

Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the BBPA, said: “These new figures for London show that the loss of pubs in urban Britain is just as big a concern as pub closures in our more rural areas in the south of England. And wherever a pub closes, city or country, something precious about local community life is lost.”

In July, CGA Strategy said that more than seven pubs a day were closing throughout the UK – that equates to 52 a week, with the loss of at least 24,000 jobs in the last year and 2,377 pubs had closed in the previous 12 months. In the last three years over 5,000 pubs have closed.

“The recession is proving extremely tough for Britain’s pubs,” said BBPA chief executive David Long. “However, those economic pressures have been made much worse by a Government that has continued to pile on tax and regulatory burdens. The last two Budgets have seen a 20 per cent increase in beer tax, which alone has added more than £600 million to our tax bill. In addition, Government continue to press ahead with the Mandatory Code of Practice, which they say heap at least £30 million of extra red tape cost on pubs in the first year alone.”

“While every other sector seems to receive a sympathetic ear and a tax payer funded handout from Government to tide them through the downturn, all we are getting is a deaf ear and a higher tax bill.”

It is a blow to many communities when they lose their pub – I should know, our village pub shut down after an unsuccessful year or two of operation and we had nowhere to go to meet friends and neighbours, it was shut for nearly a year and made a real hole in our lives. Now a new landlord has taken over, transformed the pub itself and he has attracted all the villagers back with good food and beer – and now has himself a thriving business, and we have a heart to the community again.

You can help support the town, city and village pubs this Christmas by giving an unusual gift voucher to those over 18 which you can find at PubTokens.com – the vouchers are not restricted to a single chain that can be redeemed for drinks, food and accommodation. At the moment they are redeemable in around 1,000 pubs (and growing all the time), and the vouchers come in £10 and £20 denominations.

Tags: Entertainment & food