'Perfect storm' leaving pubs on the brink of catastrophe

Rising costs, early closing and no Christmas parties... owners tell Athena Stavrou why the festive spirit has deserted them

-  Athena Stavrou

When Jo Loring started running the Cosy Dove pub in Newcastle 11 years ago, he would have to usher his customers out of the doors at 11pm so he could close up over Christmas.

Now, after a year of relentless financial challenges, he says he'll probably be closing early this year, with fewer punters there to hear the bell ringing out for last orders. “We'll be closing early because there’s virtually no one around,” he tells The Independent, adding that he thinks he’ll be around 20 per cent down on sales from last year. “It’s what you'd call a perfect storm,” he says. “It’s a very different landscape, and it’s ever-changing - all the pubs around me are saying a similar thing.”

Loring is one of countless pub owners across the UK who fear this will be one of the most challenging festive seasons the industry has ever seen.

Dawn Hopkins, 56, who runs the Rose Inn in Norwich, described having to cope with a “tsunami of cost rises” that have hit independent businesses hard. Like many other pub owners, she will be serving more expensive pints this Christmas, with most looking at an increase of between 30p and 50p a pint.

Hopkins, who is also the vice-chair of the Campaign for Pubs, says: “I’m hearing from people who say they are really quiet and they are a bit worried. Some hope they’re going to get to Christmas Day, but don’t know if they will.”

Figures from trade bodies reveal that one pub will have closed its doors every single day in 2025, with more than 400 having closed down in 2024. The closures come amid a continued struggle in the years since the pandemic, alongside what many pub owners believe to be hostile financial measures brought in by successive governments.