County losing two pubs a month

Pubs in Shropshire are closing at a rate of two a month, new figures show.

Data produced exclusively for the Shropshire Star by CGA Strategy Ltd, a leading trade research and consultancy company, reveal that 17 pubs shut their doors in just nine months across the county.

The credit crunch and cheap booze in the supermakets – as well as high rents on premises – are blamed as major reasons for the losses.

Experts from CGA, which provides statistics for The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), predict the current rate of closures would have probably pushed that figure closer to 23 pubs by the end of the year.

It is a bitter blow to publicans who were already left reeling from tougher licensing laws and restrictions imposed by the Government the previous year.

Roger Clutterbuck, director of Pub Locums of Shrewsbury, a company that provides relief managers to the pub trade, today called for struggling pubs to diversify into areas such as dry cleaning and cake selling in a desperate bid to survive.

The figures from CGA, which cover a period between December 2007 and September 2008 show that there were a total of 685 pubs across the county.

This number had dropped from 702 since December 2007 and from 719 the previous year – a total loss of 34 pubs in less than two years.

Graham Pitts, from CGA Strategy, said that despite the number of closures the county was still just below the UK average for closures.

He said: "The figures for Shropshire are in line with the Great Britain picture and it looks like two per month are closing in the county."

Mr Clutterbuck said that although the credit crunch meant people were often cutting down on drinks at the pub, factors such as supermarkets undercutting them and some pub chains charging high rent rates to licensees were also to blame.

He said pub licensees, especially those in rural areas, must diversify if they are to survive in the future.

He said: "In rural counties the pub is the hub of the village. Some councils are actually supporting this and helping people to set up things like a post office in the pub if it was about to be closed down.

"Others are introducing a small convenience store or cake shop and some are putting dry cleaning services in so people don't have to go into town."