The survey, which only takes a few minutes to fill in, asks about the levels of support pubs and publicans have received. The data will help Campaign for Pubs to continue to focus its calls on Government for further support, and to listen to the need for the further policy choices that are really needed in order to see pubs through the Covid pandemic. The survey is open to all publicans in the whole of the UK, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The survey, devised for the Campaign for Pubs by web and trade experts Harry’s Web, is asking publicans if they feel the support they have received is going to safeguard their business for the future, or whether publicans are worried that more is needed to ensure the survival of their pub. The survey is looking at levels of Government support for publicans in all areas of the UK, but also establishing what support publicans have had from pub-owning companies and commercial landlords, some of whom have continued to charge high levels of rent despite pubs being unable to trade.

The Campaign for Pubs has been spearheading the campaign for a proper package of support for all UK pubs and publicans through the #SupportPubsNow petition fronted by ‘The Pub Landlord‘ Al Murray.

The Campaign has recently made the case that current levels of support for pubs are wholly inadequate, especially since pubs have not yet had a chance to recover from huge trade losses last year, including the all-important December trade in many cases. Many publicans are already in considerable debt and many pubs have already closed for good. For many pubs the current level of grant support does not even come close to covering ongoing costs, especially property costs, let alone stretch to income support for publicans and their families, so further urgent action is needed to avoid mass pub closures and hardship.

Publicans are being urged to fill in the survey here with the results to be shared with MPs, including the All-Party Parliamentary Pub Group.

Paul Crossman, Chair of the Campaign for Pubs and licensee of three pubs in York said:

“At Campaign for Pubs we are delighted to be undertaking our first publican survey, which will give us a chance to gather valuable information on the effectiveness of the support that has been extended to independent small-business pubs around the UK. We know that there are variations in the levels of support that publicans have received from their pub-owning companies or, in the case of freehold pubs, their lenders, and also that support from the Government has varied significantly according to the type, size and location of each pub business.

“Our short survey will give us a more accurate overview of where this has left our precious UK pubs, and will allow us to gauge and represent the feelings of publicans as they continue to face the future with no clear end to the pandemic yet in sight, and future support levels uncertain”.

Dawn Hopkins, Vice-Chair of the Campaign for Pubs and licensee of The Rose Inn, Norwich  said:

“It’s clear that the Government is simply not grasping or tackling the desperate situation tens of thousands of pubs and publicans are actually in. Now it is clear that, alas, closures and restrictions will go on much longer than expected, and much longer than the Government initially said, there needs to be support all the way through until pubs can properly open again.

“So we urge all publicans up and down the country to fill in the survey in order to let us know the reality of the situation they are in. The Campaign for Pubs will continue to call for proper support from both Government and pub-owners, to get pubs through this crisis and back to serving their local communities once again”.

ENDS