Shut up about Barclay Perkins - Ownership of UK pubs 1990 - 2017
Visit the Shut up about Barclay Perkins site
The 2018 edition of the BBPA Statistical Handbook dropped onto my doormat yesterday. A nice late Chirstmas present. It's one of my favourite books, unencumbered as it is by much in the way of text.
Flicking through its pages, my eyes were drawn to one table on pubs. And their ownership. The numbers tell an intriguing tale of the fall and rise of brewery pub ownership..
In my early drinking days, the vast majority of pubs were brewery owned. And the few that weren't were really free either, having some sort of loan tie. The Beer Orders changed that and the large breweries offloaded their pub estates, mostly to pub companies.
Pub companies existed before Beer Orders. Sometimes, like Heavitree, they were breweries that had stopped brewing, but helf onto their pubs. But none operated on the scale of the large pub companies which had estates numbering thousands of pubs.
Between 1990 and 2003 there was a huge shift in ownership from breweries to pub companies, leaving the latter owning more than 50% of the total. But after 2003, the picture became very different. Independently-owned pubs, which had a fairly constant 30% share for 15 years, began gaining at the expense of pubcos.
The growth of indepently-owned pubs was spectacular after 2010, almost reaching 50%. Breweries also increased their share, though not by as much. I'm not sure if the 1,900 pubs Heineken acquired from its purchase of Punch in 2017 are included in the figures. I suspect they are.
What will the future hold? My guess is that the pubcos share will continue to fall and that of breweries increase. Like the Big Six, the pubcos will soon be a thing of the past. At least the unbranded ones. I can't see Wetherspoon disappearing anytime soon.
| Ownership of UK pubs 1990 - 2017 |
| Year |
Brewers |
|
Pub companies |
|
Independent |
|
Total |
|
No. |
% |
No. |
% |
No. |
% |
|
| 1990 |
43,500 |
68.50% |
0 |
0.00% |
20,000 |
31.50% |
63,500 |
| 1991 |
29,500 |
47.43% |
12,700 |
20.42% |
20,000 |
32.15% |
62,200 |
| 1992 |
25,700 |
41.72% |
15,900 |
25.81% |
20,000 |
32.47% |
61,600 |
| 1993 |
26,200 |
42.95% |
14,800 |
24.26% |
20,000 |
32.79% |
61,000 |
| 1994 |
26,000 |
42.83% |
14,700 |
24.22% |
20,000 |
32.95% |
60,700 |
| 1995 |
22,200 |
36.39% |
18,800 |
30.82% |
20,000 |
32.79% |
61,000 |
| 1996 |
22,300 |
36.68% |
18,500 |
30.43% |
20,000 |
32.89% |
60,800 |
| 1997 |
21,900 |
36.14% |
18,900 |
31.19% |
19,800 |
32.67% |
60,600 |
| 1998 |
19,700 |
32.30% |
21,700 |
35.57% |
19,600 |
32.13% |
61,000 |
| 1999 |
20,400 |
33.17% |
21,700 |
35.28% |
19,400 |
31.54% |
61,500 |
| 2000 |
11,200 |
18.42% |
30,400 |
50.00% |
19,200 |
31.58% |
60,800 |
| 2001 |
10,100 |
16.64% |
31,600 |
52.06% |
19,000 |
31.30% |
60,700 |
| 2002 |
9,800 |
16.31% |
31,500 |
52.41% |
18,800 |
31.28% |
60,100 |
| 2003 |
8,300 |
13.97% |
32,500 |
54.71% |
18,600 |
31.31% |
59,400 |
| 2004 |
8,900 |
15.08% |
31,700 |
53.73% |
18,400 |
31.19% |
59,000 |
| 2005 |
9,400 |
16.04% |
31,000 |
52.90% |
18,200 |
31.06% |
58,600 |
| 2006 |
9,400 |
16.15% |
30,400 |
52.23% |
18,400 |
31.62% |
58,200 |
| 2007 |
9,400 |
16.35% |
30,000 |
52.17% |
18,100 |
31.48% |
57,500 |
| 2008 |
9,100 |
15.99% |
28,900 |
50.79% |
18,900 |
33.22% |
56,900 |
| 2009 |
8,900 |
15.92% |
28,400 |
50.81% |
18,600 |
33.27% |
55,900 |
| 2010 |
8,700 |
15.70% |
24,200 |
43.68% |
22,500 |
40.61% |
55,400 |
| 2011 |
8,500 |
15.54% |
22,800 |
41.68% |
23,400 |
42.78% |
54,700 |
| 2012 |
9,300 |
17.29% |
19,800 |
36.80% |
24,700 |
45.91% |
53,800 |
| 2013 |
9,300 |
17.71% |
19,000 |
36.19% |
24,200 |
46.10% |
52,500 |
| 2014 |
9,800 |
18.88% |
17,500 |
33.72% |
24,600 |
47.40% |
51,900 |
| 2015 |
9,400 |
18.50% |
16,900 |
33.27% |
24,500 |
48.23% |
50,800 |
| 2016 |
9,400 |
18.69% |
16,900 |
33.60% |
24,000 |
47.71% |
50,300 |
| 2017 |
11,000 |
22.75% |
14,700 |
30.40% |
22,650 |
46.85% |
48,350 |
| Source: |
| BBPS Statistical Handbook 2018, page 68. |
More...
