HUNDREDS of pubs in Scotland have gone out of business in the last five years, according to official figures which lay bare the increasing pressure facing the industry.
Around 1000 licensed premises – including bars and off-sales – have shut down since 2006, with the smoking ban, an increase in red tape, and cheap supermarket alcohol all being blamed for the decline.
The first liquor licensing statistics since new licensing legislation came into force in 2009 show a 6% fall in the number of licences issued since 2006, the same year the smoking ban came into place. Around 17,234 premises were licensed in 2006 but this had dropped to 16,296 last year.
Paul Waterson, chief executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said the Government needed to intervene and reassess the fees charged to the owners of licensed premises in a bid to protect the future of the industry.
He said: "It's no exaggeration to say it is a very difficult time, and if we want to keep our pub businesses in Scotland we need to look at the factors and we need some Government help.
"We are certainly getting help with minimum pricing, which will help us to level those price differentials between supermarkets and ourselves. We are also asking the Government to look at rates, and to relook at the fees and licensing charges and also the charges that follow from that."
The Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 came fully into force in September 2009 and changed the regulations binding the industry, introducing new charges and stating all premises in Scotland should have a personal licence holder to sell or authorise the sale of alcohol from licensed premises.
The new figures, issued by the Scottish Government yesterday, reflect the first full year of operation under the new licensing arrangements. The figures show a gradual downward drift in licences between 2003 to 2006, but from 2007 onwards the numbers fall dramatically.
The recession has also brought about a number of high-profile closures, with conventional liquor stores such as Threshers and Oddbins having shut.
Mr Waterson said the significant problems faced by the industry had started with the smoking ban.
He added: "Many places have never recovered from the dent that made in the amount of people coming in.
"One of the other long-term problems was the irresponsibly low prices in supermarkets, using alcohol as a loss leader so that over the years the amount of people drinking at home has risen to the extent we have become a nation of take-home drinkers.
"Then there's the general economic situation which, depending on where you come from, will be long or short term. But we've also got the costs associated with the 2005 Licensing Act, which has played quite a significant role in terms of adhering to the application of the Act, which in many places meant lawyers' fees and architects' fees.
"The costs of getting licences themselves increased significantly."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The 2005 Act passed during the previous administration was expected to have some effect as people operating with dual licences – such as hotels with a bar – merged their licences and some operators who only sold alcohol as a very peripheral part of their business, such as gift shops, gave up licences.
"There may also be some effect from consumption trends, such as more people drinking at home.
"NHS Scotland is currently conducting a major review of the impact of the new licensing regime and that may provide a fuller picture in due course."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article