15m fewer pints sold in last fortnight of 2021 versus 2019

This equated to 15m fewer pints being sold in the on-trade compared to 2019 figures, according to research from intelligence business The Oxford Partnership.

The data was also broken down into regions and showed the City of London draught beer and cider sales were more than £11,000 less than two years ago.

The West Midlands also saw a big hit with sales down by more than £10,000 against 2019 statistics, the research revealed.

Overly cautious consumers

Oxford Partnership chief executive Alison Jordan said: “The industry has warned of a new round of venue closures in the new year, with the early December lack of clarity between Government restrictions and the impact of Omicron taking its toll on the industry.

“We have seen innovation, resolve and unsurpassed customer service in the sector to ensure safety, but through a lack of understanding of these measures, consumers remain overly cautious.”

This followed analysis of Government data, which revealed more than 400 pubs disappeared from communities​ in England and Wales in 2021, compared to a year earlier.

Real estate adviser Altus Group found the number of pubs liable for property taxes, businesses rates, including those vacant and being offered to let, dropped by 444 to 40,173 in December 2021, against 40,617 the previous year.

Pub closure figures

This equates to about 37 pubs being demolished or converted for other uses, such as homes or offices, per month in 2021.

While the drop of 444 pubs is similar to previous years (446 in 2020 and 473 in 2019 after a dramatic fall of 914 in 2018), it means 2,277 pubs have vanished in the past four years.

Altus Group broke down the figures into regions and found the south west and north west have the highest number of pubs – 5,738 and 5,361 respectively. The north east and Wales had the fewest at 1,983 and 3,060 respectively.