Why pubs are community hubs
Originally published in the MJ – 23/09/2024
The new Government’s commitment to fixing foundations brings a chance for a long-term vision of renewal for the nation’s pubs, argues Joe Fyans
The decline of the British local pub is an issue well-known to punters and policymakers alike. At Localis, we have been working with the British Beer and Pub Association for several years now to produce policy reports focusing on the revitalisation of the pub sector. Our latest report, ‘Inn-Valuable 2 – unlocking the social and economic value of our nation’s pubs’ will be launched at the Labour Party Conference and seeks to place the policy challenges and opportunities in the context of the new political cycle.
Pubs are valuable assets economically, socially and culturally. Analysis by Oxford Economics, commissioned by the BBPA, found that the totality of the beer and pub sector contributes £34.3bn to the UK economy in gross value added, paying £17bn in wages in the year 2022. The same report quantified the direct tax contribution of the pub subsector as £6.6bn.
The other side of the coin is the social value provided, with pubs standing as one of the last refuges of face-to-face interaction in an increasingly atomised, digital society. Pubs are social places, where bonds between people have been forged and strengthened for centuries. It is for this reason that they are also often seen as a place of refuge from isolation, in particular for older, single people. Speaking to publicans as case studies for our reports over the years, this part of the role of the local pub never fails to come up as a matter of the highest importance to the people running them.
The cultural contribution of pubs as venues almost goes without saying – anyone with even a passing familiarity with the development of any number of vital movements in British music and comedy scenes will be aware of the important role that pubs play supporting the arts. YouGov polling for Inn-Valuable 2 found that half of all British adults have attended a gig in a pub at some point in their life.
The complex economic, social and cultural role played by pubs up and down the country locates them in an interesting position on the policy map. On the one hand, pubs are clearly social infrastructure, assets of value to local communities – the type of institution we might try to insulate from market forces as much as possible. On the other, they are businesses, with a profit mandate, employees and supply chains, and as such are also in many ways deeply interconnected with local economies.
Pubs also sit at the intersection of several narratives of decline which public policy is often implored to arrest and reverse – the local high street, the night time economy and the promotion of grassroots live entertainment. As such, pubs have often been caught up in calls for – and the granting of – government support. Transforming such measures into a long-term path for sustainability is the focus of our latest report’s recommendations.
From the national government policy perspective, addressing the decline of pubs has two main features: the shoring up of pubs as businesses through tax measures, and the protection of pubs as social infrastructure through the right to bid for assets of community values. The latter measure is set to be strengthened by the new government, in a move that must be welcomed overall as community pubs have been successful in many places. The management of a pub is, however, a challenge that not all communities have the time and labour capacity to meet.
The primary focus must always be on maintaining the viability of the British pub trade as a whole. To this end, measures have been effective but frustratingly short-term in nature. From the beginning of the pandemic, measures to support pubs and the wider hospitality sector have tended to focus on time-limited tax relief, such as the ongoing freezes in beer duty and business rate discounts. These measures can stave off crisis, but they do not allow for long-term business planning for publicans or pub-owning businesses. Our report recommends that they be extended with a longer time horizon, but this can only be the short-term solution.
Looking to the long-term, a comprehensive review must look at charting a course to long-term sustainability for the British pub trade. This will take in promised policy reforms such as the replacement of business rates with a more fit-for-purpose local tax, the overhaul of the planning system with its implications for high street renewal, even the promised statutory local growth plans which present an opportunity to support local culture and revitalise night-time economies. To pull these threads together and oversee the production of a multi-year vision for the sector, we recommend the establishment of a dedicated taskforce with cross-governmental remit.
The importance of a thriving pub sector to our national identity has been recognised for many years in the form of short-term fixes. The new government and its commitment to fixing foundations represents an opportunity for a long-term vision of renewal.
Joe Fyans is head of research, Localis