While some independent pubs in Stratford district are thriving, others are being pushed out by escalating costs
YOU know the scene - settle down at the bar with a few old friends and talk about long-lost pubs of the past.
It’s a familiar conversation for many a long-standing Stratfordian as memories are shared of good times at the Butt, the Oddies, the Witches, the Dragon, the George, etc etc.
Each generation tends to have its own favourites to offer up - pubs that have gone or those that have changed their name, often several times.
But the natural ebb and flow of good fortune through time was given a new dimension with covid, when all hospitality closed down.
It was an extraordinary time for the whole country and especially in Stratford, with an economy so reliant on people getting out and spending money in the town’s many venues.
National initiatives and individual creativity combined to bring many of our treasured destinations back to life - but the reality has been a renewed struggle for survival in the post-covid era, with crippling rises in energy bills adding to the struggle.
In and around Stratford - and across the country - other favourite places have been in peril, with a notable upheaval in recent months. Some closures appear temporary - hopefully - while other seem destined to be lost to developers eager to repurpose them as homes.
Chief executive of CAMRA, the Campaign for real ale, Tom Stainer, sat down with the Herald to look back at the pre-covid reality for pubs and assess the state of play now.
Against a general downward trend, he said pub numbers had started to show a rise before covid struck, triggering a range of impacts.
“It's obviously had a huge impact on pubs, both the lockdowns and the changes it's made in terms of cost of living crises and cost of doing business crises.
“Perhaps the fundamental change is how consumers drink, they are maybe not going out as much.
“They have got very used to sitting at home on their sofas watching their big TVs and getting everything they need, to their door.
“So it's still a difficult, difficult environment out there.
“I think the really important thing to remember though is pubs as a sector, pubs as a business are, you know, incredibly important, incredibly valuable and the vast majority of them are incredibly viable businesses if they're given the chance.
It's about businesses with potential for growth, potential for investment, potential for employment, especially young people in their local area.
“And all they need is to be given the right environment, a fair environment in which to thrive. And we know they can do that when they are given that environment.
“We’re talking about the big levers the government can control like taxation, like business rates, like VAT and also just making pubs less attractive targets for developers and property developers who often see them as a way of making fast buck.
“You know, if you buy a pub, you close it down, you knock it down, you change it to flats, you make a lot of money very quickly.
“In fact, that pub would make lots of money in the long term if you had to devote your time to it.”
In the Stratford area, communities have fought back an saved pubs and Mr Stainer believes that should be part of the the process when a pub is at risk.
“What CAMRA’s often campaigned for, and we've long campaigned for, is for just communities to be given enough time to have a say about a pub. We're not a campaign to keep pubs open regardless.
“It's about, you know, too often pubs close their doors and before the media knows what's happened, scaffolding's gone up outside and the sale sign for the new flats is up there.
Quite often if communities are given a chance, they will say, no, we use this pub, and in many cases we're prepared to put our money where our mouths are and fund a community buyout bid.
“And we're seeing a massive increase in the number of community-owned pubs that are taking so-called unviable pubs, they certainly were unviable when run by a faceless corporation. When they're run by community who know what people like them want, they turn out to be incredibly successful pubs.”
He highlighted there had been a change to the previous dynamic of some pubs being tied to breweries and their products - and others being free houses.
“The people who own the majority of what's called tenancy pubs are not the big brewers any more.
“They're these big pub-owning businesses. And essentially they're property businesses, they just happen to own pubs.
“You know, they're all about making profit by the rent they charge on the property. And they also take a cut of the beer. So they source the beer from the brewers, they then sell it to the tenants at the price that's set by the property-owning company.
“And because of the nature of the contract that these tenants have with the pub, they're not allowed to go and buy that same beer on the free market, which will cost them a lot less, which means that these tenants have already, you know, started with one arm tied behind their back.”
He added that often because they’ve borrowed money to buy up hundreds of pubs, they put through annual rent increases to help service the debts - and a [pub that starts doing well will also face increases because of that.
And though he said that reiterated the case for the government to help, he also praised the spirit of innovation that was still in evidence.
“Whichever stage you look at pubs, they're always doing something interesting when they're able to be run by people who really understand their local market, rather than someone back at the head office, just deciding everyone's going to serve the same menu.
“We talk about covid in a negative sense, but we've also found a positive sense, and I'm sure you saw in your local area, we saw all over the country, how quickly pubs reacted and were able to offer all sorts of other community services.
“Pubs have always been there for communities, and always, you know, supplied what the community needs, whether it's a venue for a sports team, or somewhere for a local dance club, or a knitting club.
“And, you know, they have been very forward-thinking with the food they're offering in the great independent pubs, from interesting glass snacks, and then become incredibly trendy, and you know, you have to pay huge amounts of money for in London, but you know, pubs have started doing things like cocktails, and sausage rolls, and things like this. And yeah, if they're able to stock local as well, so they can really support local businesses, local people. And just in terms of, you know, the quality of food that pubs now offer, I don't want to risk suggesting how old you might be, but I'm certainly old enough to remember when pub food was really, you know, it was pork scratchings, or a pack of grits.
So pubs have come on so much from that point where we've gone through gastropubs, and we've gone through, you know, sort of pubs with high restaurants in them, and just really doing interesting things, and really delivering to what their community needs, rather than watch someone back at a head office to say this is the most popular burger they have on the menu. Yeah, yeah. So, I guess, so pubs are resilient, but they need some help and support, and they'll hopefully be, you know, continuing to flourish if, you know, with a bit of help from, I guess, customers and government.
Give them a fair market, give them the freedom they require, and these are, and can be, incredibly resilient, vibrant, important community businesses. And at the moment, they're really struggling for the taxes out of their control. Yeah.
And it wouldn't take much from a government to say, okay, here's two or three big important leavers we can pull to really help a business sector which delivers so much benefit into their communities, unlike a lot of other businesses, you know, you think about online gambling or online re-promote, we just siphon money out for those businesses, and pubs actually bring it in, and they're employing loads of people there, supporting loads of suppliers, and they're giving us a good night out, aren't they?
Time please: pubs and bars lost in the past decade or so
THE chair of Shakespeare CAMRA chair Lloyd Evans said:
“When compared to national figures for pubs closing Stratford has, overall, done very well up to now but it would be fair to say that economic pressures on landlords and therefore pubs are increasing all the time. The hospitality business has not fully re-covered since the COVID epidemic and this has not been helped by the cost-of-living crisis, the price of discounted beers in supermarkets and the increase in ground rents. Taken all together this is affecting footfall into our pubs but on the positive side pubs are becoming innovative in the specialist food evenings that they offer, organising regular quiz evenings and the range of beers that are now being served especially where there is a local connection available.”
According to CAMRA the number of pubs that are permanently or temporarily closed or demolished in Stratford and south Warwickshire is 31.
Closed permanently: White Lion 2016, Lord Nelson 2017 (Alcester); Armouries Arms 2014 (Pathlow); Old Mill Hotel 2016 (Shipston); Maison 2015 (Stratford); Rustic Kitchen 2015 (Bearley); Plough 2015, New Saxon 2016 (Bidford).
Temporarily closed or closed long term: Horseshoe Inn 2022 (Shipston); Royal Inn 2017 (Bidford); Swan Hotel 2017, Cross Keys 2020, Three Tuns 2021 (Alcester); The Ferry Inn 2024 (Alveston); Red Lion 2024, Pen and Parchment 2024, Chicago Rock Café 2015, The Bull 2024, Oddfellows Arms 2016, Grosvenor Hotel 2022, Crowne Plaza 2024, Paddock 2024, Shakespeare Hotel 2024 (Stratford); Masons Arms 2020 (Wilmcote); Gate Inn 2021 (Brailes); Navigation Inn 2024 (Wootton Wawen); Fox and Hounds 2016 (Great Walford).
Demolished: White Horse 2015 (Ettington); Bird in Hand 2016 (Newbold); Fox Hunter 2007 (Snitterfield); Yates 2010 (Stratford).
