The figures from Companies House, analysed by data and comparison firm Instant Offices, found a total of 4,868 pub and bars were registered in 2022, an increase of 33% compared with 2021.
However, just 487 (10%) of these were launched by women.
The new pubs and bars were launched predominantly across London, Liverpool, Sheffield, Bradford and Glasgow, according to Instant Offices.
Additionally, the research showed the number of female-opened pubs and bars had fallen year-on-year, with just 14% (514) of the 3,778 registered in 2021 led by women.
Improved outcomes
Instant Offices chief marketing officer John Williams said: “Research shows that 54% of small businesses, 64% of medium ones and 59% of large companies reported improved business outcomes when implementing initiatives to improve gender diversity.”
Williams also claimed studies have shown women score higher than men in most leadership skills.
Moreover, Instant Offices highlighted that the 2019 Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, which aims to support the Government in increasing the number of female leaders by 50% by 2030, estimated women could add £250bn to the UK economy if they started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men.
Earlier this year, The Morning Advertiser spoke to a number of female operators for International Women’s Day 2023, looking at their experience in the industry and what barriers the sector is yet to overcome.
Nottinghamshire-based licensee of the Ye Olde Bridge Inn Hannah Lloyd said: “I see a lot more female business operators and directors now than when I first started within the hospitality sector and definitely since becoming a publican, but the industry is still male dominated or male and female joint owned.
Removing stereotyping
“There’s still a lot less female led operations and definitely young female led business owners.”
Lloyd added “removing stereotyping” of gender roles for success in the industry was essential as women are generally “not taken as seriously” as they should be.
Echoing this, licensee and director of the Dickens Bar & Inn, in North-Yorkshire, Kathleen Howard said: “The women I meet in the industry are strong willed, which they need to be to survive.
“The pub industry is still dominated by men in suits, many of whom have been in it a long time and are set in their old ways.”
