Thousands of pubs are planning to reduce their opening hours this winter as businesses continue to be impacted by soaring energy bills.
According to new research, half of landlords across the UK intend to open for fewer hours each day, close their doors at quiet times or abandon their pubs altogether for part of the month, reports the Mirror . The research on reduced opening hours was conducted by UK Hospitality.
The move is being described as a ‘hibernation’ by industry bosses, after a period of bad luck for pub owners. Publication of the research comes as landlords' hopes of a Christmas boost have crumbled due to nationwide rail strikes and an unexpected winter freeze.
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Kate Nicholls, UK Hospitality chief executive, said: "The whole cost-of-living, cost-of-doing-business crisis is forcing them to say: ‘Maybe it is best if we don’t open fully and try to hibernate’."
Across the country, many pubs have been forced to turn up their heating, despite having fewer visitors, the Mail Online reports. Andrew Taylor, landlord of the Adam and Eve pub in Alnwick, Northumberland, planned to close up shop for two weeks.
He said: "It is easier to turn the lights off and pay the staff holiday. Otherwise, everything we make in December will just be going straight back out." He also planned to close Mr Fox in Croydon - his other pub - for four days.
Sam Snape, the landlord of the Lower Lode Inn near Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, has also cut opening hours. Ms Snape said some days the pub was only making £50 a day - which made business "just not viable".
While she didn't want to put off trade, she said the pub "can't just be open waiting for people to drop in".
Robin and Michelle Jackson, the landlords of The Black Toad pub in Hoylake, are considering a reduced schedule. The pair said they would push their usual 1pm opening time back by several hours.
Mr Jackson said the pub's energy bill had tripled from £300 to £900 a month, which had caused a significant strain on his firm's finances.
According to recent research by property adviser Altus Group, around 50 of the estimated 47,000 pubs in the UK close every month because they can't make ends meet. Anthony Pender, who owns two central London pubs, said they would typically make more money than they would for the whole of January. But, he said, this year the pub had lost "about £70,000 in bookings”.
He added that his electricity bill had risen from £89,000 a year to £176,000. Amid the financial strain, he plans to close the pub for several days in early January but remain open for the remainder of the month.
He said: "We will lose more money being open than we will closed. But if we’re not open for [customers] they will leave and never come back."
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