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meeson · Site Admin Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 615

Mulholland attacks pubcos over closure figures

MP fears backstreet local will become a thing of the past

Outspoken MP Greg Mulholland has again hit out at the pubcos in his latest Publican column.

The chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group has waded into the row over pub closure figures.

Last week union GMB said that more than 1,000 pubco premises had closed over the last three years and that this was evidence that the tie is not working.

But Enterprise Inns and the British Beer & Pub Association both hit back at the figures and pointed out that only 25 per cent of closures in that period were pubco premises.

In his column Mulholland writes: “But it is not just about overall figures. The pubs closing in greatest numbers are urban and suburban pubs away from town and city centres. Large town centre pubs, pub restaurants and idyllic country pubs will survive even these hard times, but the backstreet local will become a thing of the past.

"These are predominantly owned by the big pubcos and breweries. These are the easiest to claim as “unviable”, the easiest to get closures approved by local councils, the easiest to ignore campaigns to save them.

"But the way the statistic is presented, it is another pub tragically lost because of beer duty, the recession, the smoking ban, changing habits. Anyone to blame but the company closing the pub.”