FDBusiness.com

Stampede, a Leith-based start-up offering digital growth services to the hospitality sector and hundreds of pubs in the UK, has released its ‘Raising the bar’ report featuring Official Labour Market Statistics from the Office of National Statistics (with new data not yet distributed by the ONS). The report reveals that the pub industry is reversing a decade of numerical decline – with a net growth of 320 pub/bars, a possible extra 8,975 jobs, and additional cash turnover of £740 million nationwide.

The report is available here, key findings include:

• Between 2010-2018, the UK had a net loss of 5,855 pubs, an average of -732 per year. However, there was a net gain of 320 pubs in 2019, the first time that the number of pubs in the UK has increased for a decade
• England saw the greatest increase (+345) compared to Scotland (-5) Wales (-25) and Northern Ireland (+5), which were relatively static
• The net growth of pubs in the UK between 2018 and 2019 may have created an extra 8,975 jobs nationwide – based on the net increase of pubs multiplied by their number of employees (across pubs of multiple employment sizebands)
• Using a similar formula, we calculate that pubs made an extra £740,875,000 in 2019 vs 2018 (based on the ONS turnover sizeband data)
• Large pub groups are driving the most growth in the sector. The biggest increase (+205) comes from pub enterprises with a turnover of £500,000-£1,000,000, and the second biggest increase (+125) was in the £1m-£2m bracket. By contrast, the UK had a net loss of 55 for pub enterprises with a turnover of less than £100,000
• By region, the South East has the most pubs (5,340) but only grew by 10 in 2019
• The North East grew the most (+85), followed closely by the West Midlands (+80)
• Licensed clubs remain on the decline – 7,420 in 2019 vs 7,610 in 2018 (there were more than 10,000 in 2010)**
• London lost 10 pubs overall, and saw a net increase in 10 out of 33 boroughs

Patrick Clover.

“The pub trade has had very little to celebrate in the last decade, but I’m sure they’ll raise a glass to these new numbers,” says Patrick Clover, Stampede founder and CEO. “Pubs have a hugely important place in our society both socially as well as economically, being one of the UK’s biggest employers. The reduction of pubs over the last decade has been heart-breaking, following devastating changes to business taxes and alcohol duties, but I hope these figures signpost a reversal of fortunes. Indeed, we saw our local district of Edinburgh increase the number of pubs significantly this year, and I like to think we played our part in that. Stampede’s aim is to become indispensable to every pub, bar, hotel and restaurant owner in the UK. We want to bring the heart back into these beloved venues that are at the centre of our communities.”

Stampede recently launched with £1 million in seed funding, money which is being used to reach every pub, bar, hotel and restaurant in the UK (all 530,000 of them). It offers a range of digital marketing and growth services for these venues, to help them improve customer engagement, reviews, and marketing promotions.

* There are now a total of 39,145 pubs in the UK – based on businesses classified by the Standard Industrial Classification code 56302 : Public houses and bars

Figures are rounded to the nearest five by ONS to prevent identification, so these are not exact numbers

** Standard Industrial Classification code 56301: licensed clubs