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24-10-2017, 08:05
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You hear a lot of talk about pub closures. That such and such a number are closing every week. But I like numbers, me. Long strings of numbers that explain exactly what;'s going on.

I managed to snag a free copy of the British Beer and Pub Association Statistical Handbook for 2017. It's full of numbers, which is why I wanted it. Including ones on UK pub numbers. It has a nice long set, from 1990 to 2016. What do they tell us?

A quick seach on the internet found various articles that specified the number of pubs closing each week. The ones dated 2015 and 2016 quoted closure numbers between 21 and 29 a week. One claimed that in 2009 the rate was 52 per week. Some of those figures look rather exaggerated, especially the 52 a week one.

Let's take a look at the real numbers:




UK number of pubs


year
no. pubs
closures per week
5 year average closures


1990
63,500




1991
62,200
25.0



1992
61,600
11.5



1993
61,000
11.5



1994
60,700
5.8



1995
61,000
-5.8



1996
60,800
3.8
3.1


1997
60,600
3.8



1998
61,000
-7.7



1999
61,500
-9.6



2000
60,800
13.5



2001
60,700
1.9
-0.4


2002
60,100
11.5



2003
59,400
13.5



2004
59,000
7.7



2005
58,600
7.7



2006
58,200
7.7
7.3


2007
57,500
13.5



2008
56,900
11.5



2009
55,900
19.2



2010
55,400
9.6



2011
54,700
13.5
10.8


2012
53,800
17.3



2013
52,500
25.0



2014
51,900
11.5



2015
50,800
21.2



2016
50,300
9.6
13.5


Source:


BBPA Statistical Handbook 2017, page 68.



I was very surprised to swee that the number of pubs actually increased in the second half of the 1990's. It's also clear that the rate of closuress has varied quite a bit. With 2016 seeing the smallest drop in a decade. That wasn't what I was expecting. Though the five years 2012 to 2016 are the worst in the set.

I'm not going to get involved in arguments about the root cause. Though I expect the crash in 2008 will have played a part. If I were being clever, I'd also include the percentage of beer sold in the on and off trade and beer consumption. Maybe I'll do that, if I can be arsed.

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