Brewdog is to close six of its bars in the UK, with the brewery’s owner slamming the government for failing to help businesses face the energy and cost of living crisis. Co-founder James Watt took to his LinkedIn page to brand the current government ‘zombies’.
“Last night we confirmed we were to close six bars around the UK and it is heart-breaking to lose these locations,” he said. “I warned a few weeks ago, costs are rising to such a degree, with no prospect of any help from a clueless government, that these very difficult decisions have to be made.
“It was going to be simply impossible to get these bars even close to financial viability in the foreseeable future. We had no choice but to close them.”
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Its branches in Peterhead, Motherwell and Aberdeen will close, the latter is the nearest to the brewer's huge facility in Ellon. It will also close three branches in London. There will be no accompanying job losses, however, with all staff affected having accepted jobs at the branches nearest their own.
A spokesperson for the brewery said that ‘with rapidly increasing costs including spiralling energy bills, these bars were a substantial distance from being viable to operate’.
Brewdog has three in Manchester; the Brewdog bars on Peter Street and Oxford Road, and the Brewdog Hotel on Fountain Street, which has two bars, two restaurants and rooftop terrace.
Watt said that the Brewdog branch in Waterloo, which opened earlier this month and is the brewery’s biggest ever site, had 20,000 drinkers through the door in its first two weeks.
But he went on: “[It's] important the success of Waterloo doesn't blind us all to the reality we as a sector are facing, nor to the sheer ‘rabbit in the headlights' paralysis of this zombie government, still intent on this bizarre leadership farce, instead of getting to grips with the kind of challenges that will result in more business casualties than the pandemic did.
“If nothing happens the UK looks set to lose half of its pubs and bars and all the millions of jobs these locations provide, as well as the vital role they play in local communities.”
The news comes as operators across the country report horrifying hikes in energy bill quotes, and the likes of Sacha Lord, Manchester’s night time economy advisor to the mayor, saying that three out of four pubs might not make it through the winter.
Tampopo co-founder David Fox recently said that his energy bills are at one of his restaurants were £325 two years ago, and from September, he’ll have to pay £3,577.
“That is £508 a day,” he said in a series of tweets. “This will call into question the affordability of running a restaurant and certainly on shifts where sales are below a certain level.
“At £508 a day for 110 cover restaurant I would have to have sales of £850 JUST TO PAY FOR THE ELECTRICITY. That is before any costs for my team, gas, cleaning and and all the other direct costs associated with being open.”
The treasury has said it’s looking into ‘options’ ahead of the government’s new administration arriving in Downing Street, following the leadership battle between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
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