More than 9,000 pubs, restaurants and other licenced premises have closed since the start of the Covid crisis - an average of one every two hours.
Research by consultants CGA and AlixPartners found 106,000 such venues were left, after an 8% drop between early 2020 and now.
And there are fears that many more could shut because of a surge in energy, raw ingredients, wages and other costs for business owners.
