The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), the leading trade association representing brewers and pubs, has today revealed that the new tier system introduced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson will cost wet-let pubs £47k each for the month of December alone.
According to the trade association, if all wet-led pubs in the UK were to be subject to the restrictions in tiers two and three this would cost the sector £1.5bn, or £47k for each wet-led pub in the UK. £680m of this would be from lost beer sales alone, the equivalent of 180 million pints, meaning the restrictions will also hugely damage Britain’s world class brewers.
The trade association has said this will destroy thousands of pubs and brewers across the country, forcing them to close for good unless the Government does the right thing and provides vital grant support pubs and brewers urgently need.
Impressing the seriousness of the situation, the trade association has today written to Chancellor Rishi Sunak to make clear with him the crisis facing the sector without Government financial support.
They have urged him to deliver emergency grants to pubs in line with those in the first lockdown, as 90% of pubs placed under the new tier two and tier three restrictions will operate at a loss – leading them to financial ruin without support. The current support grants range from just £1,300 to £3,000 per month not anywhere near compensating for lost revenue and ongoing fixed costs.
In the letter to the Chancellor, Emma McClarkin, BBPA's Chief Executive, said, “I cannot overstate how serious the situation facing our brewers and pubs is at this stage. It would be utterly heart-breaking if, having survived through the last nine months, pubs now face ruin with the end of the pandemic in sight.”