The announcement was made from the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, during the debate on the controversial new Tiered restrictions and is seen as an attempt to stave off a rebellion on the new tiers but in reality is very little help for pubs, publicans and their families.

The reality is that the level of grants available to pubs, even if they qualify for the extra £32.26 a day, doesn’t even cover fixed costs and rent and pubs, never mind the disastrous loss of December trade, for many pubs the busiest month of the year and with the revenue from December seeing many pubs through the tough winter months of January and February. Without more support, many pubs businesses will simply not survive.

The Campaign for Pubs are supporting the #SupportPubsNOW petition calling for a meaningful package of support for pubs, to stop closures and prevent hardship for many pub families and urges all who support pubs to sign it.

Greg Mulholland, Campaign Director for the Campaign for Pubs said:

“The reality of the Prime Minister’s announcement is that he is offering just an extra  £32.26 a day for pubs and only to pubs that don’t serve food. This is frankly derisory and does nothing to compensate pubs facing the disastrous loss of all December, Christmas and New Year’s Eve trade. It is also grossly unfair to wet led pubs that have planned reluctantly to do food just to open in Tier 2, now it seems denied this small bit of extra support despite the unfair ‘substantial meal’ rule.

“Current grants don’t even cover costs and many publicans are on the brink getting into more and more debt.  Without further support, many pubs at risk of closure and many pub families are facing hardship, so we need a meaningful package of support announcing urgently to avoid this”.

Paul Crossman, Chair of the Campaign for Pub & a licensee in York said:

“The Government’s decision to severely curtail the trade of all pubs and to specifically close wet led community pubs at this crucial time of year will have dire consequences for an industry and supply chain that is already on its knees, and the Prime Minister’s derisory offer this morning of a one-off £1000 additional  payment for closed wet led pubs will make no tangible difference to that situation. The support package on offer still falls well short of covering basic costs for the vast majority of pubs, let alone compensating them for any of the trade that is being denied them over the vital festive period.

“Unfortunately today’s seemingly rushed and ill-thought-through announcement only reinforces the impression that the Prime Minister and his advisors have no idea of the cumulative cost to our industry of their policy decisions, and that, despite the enormous contribution pubs make to the welfare of our communities, the wider economy and the public purse, they simply do not value our precious pubs enough to do what is genuinely required to preserve them for the future”.

ENDS