Independent readers responding to warnings of a “perfect storm” this Christmas said Britain’s pub culture is slowly fading from everyday life.
Commenters reacted to reports that pubs across the UK are facing their toughest festive trading in years, with some landlords revealing they have had no Christmas party bookings at all for the first time and fearing they may not even stay open until the new year.
While many expressed sympathy for struggling publicans, readers argued the pressures go far beyond one bad season.
High prices were the most common complaint, with readers saying pub mark-ups now feel impossible to justify when supermarket alcohol is far cheaper.
Others pointed to shifting social habits, particularly among younger people, who are drinking less and socialising online, leaving pubs without a new generation of regulars.
Some said pubs themselves have changed, blaming loud music, constant sport on televisions and poor food for driving away customers seeking conversation and community.
Many argued the blame lies higher up, accusing governments, breweries and pub companies of squeezing margins while local landlords bear the risk.
Here’s what you had to say:
Young people simply do not go to the pub anymore
It’s a very different landscape and it’s ever-changing. Too true.
There is one fact that stands out for me, and that is that many young people simply do not go to the pub anymore – and that isn’t because of prices, it is simply because they don’t have to anymore.
When I was young(er), in order to meet up with mates and girls and have a chinwag, we had to go to the pub and clubs. There was nothing else. There was nowhere else a group of you could go to socialise in my area. I was doing it from the age of 15, like almost everyone I know.
Nowadays, young people don’t have to leave their bedrooms to talk to people, watch their antics or play games with them – and this is with people from all over the world.
Why would they opt to go out, spend money and get dressed when they can do it from their warm bedroom in their jim-jams?
It is just another consequence of the internet. Like the high street shops which are not needed anymore, many pubs will disappear as the older generations like me die off and stop using them. There is no generation up and coming to take our place. It is a great shame, but inevitable, I think.
slapand
Loud music and nowhere to hide
I used to love pubs, but stopped primarily because of either loud background music or Sky Sports on TV, with nowhere to hide. So it became harder and harder to find a peaceful place to have a quiet pint with friends.
Perhaps I’m showing my age, but a lot of pubs only have themselves to blame.
hayneman
Overcharge customers, pay staff peanuts
Pubs pay their staff peanuts, overcharge their customers and make no effort to provide decent food to entice non-drinkers out.
What do they expect?
Perhaps the problem is a combination of breweries profiteering and pubs not reacting to a change in the market.
Twenty years ago, pubs had to attract customers. Now they just think that having Stella on tap and a few foul craft ales is all they have to do to deserve business.
Badbob
There is always one winner
There are certain days in the year when pubs do a very brisk trade, then there are days when trade is very poor. It is a broken industry.
Some of those busy pubs that are tied to the products they can buy and sell won’t make anywhere near the profit that a brewery-managed pub will. There is, however, always one winner: the pub companies, who post huge operating profits every year. For the pub tenant, it is a very different story.
Anonymous
Prices in pubs are simply too high
This is inevitable. Young people are drinking less and prices in pubs are simply too high. A bottle of beer I can buy in a supermarket for £2.50 costs £5.50 in a pub near where I live. That’s too much mark-up.
Pubs need to drop their prices in accordance with the law of supply and demand. I suspect that many landlords are trying to maintain their profits despite falling customer numbers by putting up prices – that simply isn’t realistic.
Musil
The price of drinks needs to reflect the traditional customer
The price of drinks needs to reflect the needs of the traditional pub customer who would like to stay a while and drink five pints. So by all means charge £7 for one, but offer a £15 carnet for five.
On spirits, the mark-up is an outrage – charge what is charged now but quadruple the quantity served. There’d be just as much profit.
muichoi
A storming build-up to Christmas
The hotel we go to weekly has had a storming build-up to Christmas. They have three dining rooms, all filled for weeks. Last Friday there was clearly a works do. They had come from a town 24 miles away.
Now I’m surmising that their excellent cooking, very generous portions, wide menu and reasonable prices might have something to do with it.
JoeRobson
Black-eye Friday told a different story
Well, that wasn’t my experience when I was out on Black-eye Friday last week. Pubs and restaurants were doing a very brisk trade throughout the city. Lots of office pub crawls by the look of it too.
RickC
Decline in under-25s drinking
All the pubs in my village have been rammed for Christmas. The decline in under-25s’ drinking can be attributed to any number of things: a preference for different drugs, different ways of socialising, dislike of alcohol, and being skint (and maybe, to us oldsters, a bit boring?).
prunesquallor1
Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity.
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