HAS the pub industry survived the worst of the cost-of-doing-business storm?

Reading the trading updates from Marston’s and JD Wetherspoon in recent days, it is almost tempting to think that.

Midlands-based Marston’s was in upbeat mood today, highlighting the enduring popularity of the “Great British pub” and declaring that the outlook for costs and consumer confidence was “steadily improving”. That came as it unveiled an encouraging set of interim results, which underlined the boost to trade from Easter and two May bank holiday weekends.

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The Marston’s results followed a similarly positive update from Wetherspoon, which said last week that profits would come in at the upper end of expectations.

Neither Marston’s nor Wetherspoon are suggesting the cost pressures that have blighted the industry have disappeared. Wetherspoon, in particular, warned that while sales momentum had picked up in the last quarter, inflation “remains a more intractable issue”, especially with regard to labour, energy, and food costs.

There is a sense, though, that the bigger players in the pub world are beginning to see an end to the cost-of-doing business, and we will perhaps see more evidence of that when Mitchells & Butlers unveils its half-year results tomorrow (May 17).

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But while the giants of the pub sector have the financial firepower to withstand the cost inflation that has significantly eroded margins during the last year and more, the pressure on independents has been a good deal more acute. Smaller, independently owned pubs, hotels and restaurants do not possess the buying power or economies of scale that Marston’s or Wetherspoon enjoy, and it is equally unlikely they will have been able afford to hedge their gas and electricity bills.

For venues of this ilk, any talk of an end to the cost-of-doing business crisis would appear to be premature at best.