BRITISH PUBS are shutting at a rate of 25 per week, helping force unemployment to a 17-year high, new figures show today.

The jobless total jumped by 27,000 in the three months to January to 2.53 million, the worst figure since 1994, according to statistics.

And the number of 16 to 24-year-olds out of work increased by 30,000 to 974,000, the highest since records began in 1992.

Last month saw another rise in the county’s jobseekers, with 5,021 people in Shropshire – 2.8 per cent of the working-age population – and 4,275 people in Telford & Wrekin – 4.1 per cent of the population – now claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance.

The figures are set against a fall in the number of claimants nationally.

And figures from the British Beer & Pub Association shows the country’s closing pubs accounted for 13,000 of the jobs which have been lost over the last year, with the closure of 1,300 licensed premises.

Now Shropshire landlords have thrown their weight behind the association’s call for the Government to freeze tax on beer in next week’s budget.

John Ellis, landlord at The Crown Inn in Oakengates, said: “A lot of pubs here, particularly country pubs, just won’t survive.

“It’s bizarre that at a time when the Government is trying to promote public health and safe drinking people are being forced into bulk-buy deals for huge trays of lager at the supermarket.

“Any rise in taxes, considering the breaks being offered to supermarkets, would clearly be ludicrous.”

Phil Howard, supervisor at The Bell Inn in Shifnal, said an increasing number of Shropshire pubs were focusing on food as it was so hard to make money from drinks sales. He added: “That has worked for us here, but drinkers will still notice if there’s an increase next week.”

A report published by the Lost Pubs Project last month showed Shropshire to have at least 91 closed pubs, with many now either boarded up or having been turned into homes.

A Treasury spokesman said: “Alcohol duties make a substantial contribution to Exchequer tax revenues, providing important support to the UK’s public finances and deficit reduction plan.”

By Business Editor Thom Kennedy