CENTRAL DEVON MP Mel Stride says he is “encouraged” by new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) that show the number of pubs in the UK has increased for the first time in 10 years. After steadily declining numbers since 2009, there were 320 more pubs open in the year to March 2019. Industry experts have cited how the pub industry is evolving by serving more food, providing accommodation and hosting events, and that this is beginning to counter the fact that people are drinking less alcohol.
Mr Stride said:
“It is good that we are drinking less as a society but I am very conscious that pubs are the focal point of rural communities, are important to the local economy and help avoid people becoming rurally isolated. Pubs have had to shift how they are catering for their customers and these statistics seem to suggest this is working. I am optimistic that we can halt the trend of pub closures that we have seen over the past decade.”
Mr Stride has lobbied successive chancellors over the issue of beer duty, urging the Government not to increase the burden on hard-pressed landlords. In 2014 he received an award from the Chief Executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, Campaign for Real Ale and the Society of Independent Brewers for his “invaluable support” in helping to scrap the beer duty escalator introduced by former Chancellor Alistair Darling.
