“I guess you can just sit wherever, really,” the woman says, seeming a little nonplussed as she gestures at the dozens of empty tables. I booked a slot at this London pub on its “work from the pub” scheme, but it seems I needn’t have bothered with the planning. I am the only customer in here. Which makes sense – because this is a pub, and it’s 11am on a Tuesday.
Trouble is brewing for pubs. Earlier this year there were 7,000 fewer of them in England and Wales than a decade ago. Pubs were bruised by the pandemic, and now, like all hospitality venues, they are staring down the barrel of the cost of living crisis, which will mean vastly increased energy bills and customers with less beer money in their pockets. More than 70% of pubs do not expect to survive the winter, according to one survey.
