Help Sitemap Home Skip Navigation Contact Us Disability Statement

www.lookers.co.uk/citroen-preston
 
 
Friday, 12th March 2010

Traditional pubs 'could die out'

Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image

Published Date:
07 May 2008
The traditional local pub could die out within just a few years, industry experts have warned.
More than 20 pubs in the Preston area are on the market in a huge £1.7m sell-off with leases up for grabs worth between £20,000 and £275,000 each.

Soaring costs and high taxes are being blamed for the decline of the local pub and today bosses in the city issued a stark warning the traditional local could die out within three years.

And they said traditional back-street pubs would have to move into other areas, such as opening post offices or shops in their premises, if they wanted to pull in the punters.

The grim picture comes just months after the Evening Post revealed pubs in Preston are now closing at a rate of one a month.

Graham Rowson, landlord of the Plungington Hotel, Preston, said he is planning to start running corporate days for businesses using the pub's bowling green.

He said: "I think it is the way it has got to go because there is so little profit in alcohol. The perception is that it costs £3 for a pint so the landlords must be making a fortune, but it is not, it's the taxman. The pubs have got to look at diversification."

Some North West pubs have already turned parts of their premises into barber shops and even a laundrette.

Ronnie Fitzpatrick, chairman of Preston's Licensed Victuallers Association and landlord of the Dog and Partridge in Friargate, said: "We have to do something or there will be nothing left. We will just have the big, massive pub companies and they are a different thing altogether from pubs.

"I see, within two or three years, a severe lack of pubs."

Mr Fitzpatrick blamed rising costs, saying: "Running a pub is expensive. The whole thing, even food with the recent price increases, plus we have added costs. With people smoking outside we have to provide lights, heaters and smoking shelters."

Regional director for the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) Ray Jackson said: "Pubs are going to have to have a dual role. They have to survive."

Preston once boasted 365 pubs, but now there are fewer than half that number.

Those up for sale include:

Black Bull, Station Road, Bamber Bridge
Tom Finney, Central Drive, Penwortham
Pear Tree, Station Road, Bamber Bridge
McKenzie Arms, Station Road, Bamber Bridge
Plough Inn, Pope Lane, Penwortham
Black Bull, Leyland
New Ship Inn, Watery Lane, Ashton, Preston
Talbot Arms, Talbot Street, Chipping
Seven Stars, Leyland
Moorbrook Inn, North Road, Preston
Belle Vue, New Hall Lane, Preston
Lime Kiln, Aqueduct Street, Preston
Derby Arms, Carrs Green, Inskip
Old Original Seven Stars, Leyland

Six other unnamed Preston pubs are also advertised online.

>> Vote in our latest web poll

i-map

Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 15 May 2008 3:08 PM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Preston
 
Prev
1
Next
1

barnfarm,

07/05/2008 11:16:53
Post office in a pub? Timid old dears queueing to pick up their pensions with the bar-flies? Sounds a winner.
We seem to spend a lot of time bemoaning the loss of a way of life which, in a thousand tiny ways this past 30 years, we have deliberately turned away from. Britain is the 51st state because of choices freely made, and the generations coming through feel far less connection with 'traditions' like pubs.
2

zebra,

07/05/2008 14:06:17
Plough Inn, Pope Lane, Penwortham - isnt this OLD news? The Plough has had a large board outside for months saying that it is closed and will be reopening as an Indian Restaurant.
3

Eric Cartman,

Preston 07/05/2008 14:06:39
How to save the pub! Cut freaking Taxes for God's sake! Is it any wonder that revellers feel the need to get lashed up at home on bottles of cheap vodka before they even come out to the disco? When the alternative is to be ripped off in town centre bars.
When I used to go out drinking and clubbing, me and my mates would all meet up in the local for 7PMish, but nowadays people can't afford to do that.
I was in a local last paying an expensive £2 per pint, now I'd be keen to know what that same pint would cost in a town centre bar.
4

Ribbleton,

07/05/2008 16:16:27
Beer duty is 33p a pint. VAT is 17.5% but is also applied to off licence and supermarket sales.
There is a country near here that has village pub/shop/post offices and doesnt close them down. They speak English and Ryanair fly there from the UK. Suggest a few commentators and politicians check it out.
5

john the baptist of the river ribble,

07/05/2008 16:28:30
McKenzie Arms, Station Road, Bamber Bridge

Good! It's a dump!
6

Porco Rosso,

07/05/2008 16:46:39
I brew my own.
No TAX!

And I'm not talking kits either.

When I started drinking beer was ~£0.80 pint and 440ml cans of 4% lager the same, now 500ml cans of 5% lager £0.70 and a pub pint £2.40+ surely the same duty is paid for both canned and pub beer. So duty can't be the real problem. You can get draught flow beers now that are as good as you'd get in a pub, no waiting for taxis, no need to wear body armour, an extensive range of films/sports to watch or even a few console games. the Private House is the real competition.
7

eternal optimist,

07/05/2008 18:13:12
agree comment 5 the mackenzies should be demolished with all the scumbags that drink in it.the pear tree's gonna open as a retaurant in june.
8

Eric Cartman,

Preston 07/05/2008 18:26:49
That's the community spirit Porco Rosso, keep it up. lol.
9

Beverley Kirwan,

Preston 08/05/2008 00:00:00
Expensive beer, cheaper supermarket prices, EU lager, ruthless breweries who won't let publicans make any money, the smoking ban, the telly etc. etc. All these things have brought about the demise of the pub. It's very sad because it's the destruction of communities and hence the destruction of the family. More people are living isolated and lonely lives.
10

Sam Tana,

08/05/2008 14:43:54
The pub won't die. The scruffy, run-down backstreet boozer will ... and few will mourn it. But good pubs that serve good beer, reasonable nosh and act as a community centre will live on as long as people want to gather together for an evening's entertainment. What we should really be worrying about is all these new housing developments that go up with no social hub and are just claustrophobic warrens of "executive" homes full of people with no connection to where they live.
Prev
1
Next

 

Comment on this Story

 

In order to post comments you must Register or Sign In

 
 
RSS Feed of this article's comments
Delivery formats: RSS, Atom, Javascript & Email
 
 


Sister Newspapers:
Press Complaints Commission

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Press Complaints Commission’s Code of Practice. If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the PCC by clicking here.