Will your local pub be next to close?

Jan 3 2009 by Dan Warburton, The Journal

Floods add to publicans’ many woes

PUBLICANS in Morpeth were dealt another major blow by September’s devastating flooding.

With almost 1,000 homes flooded out, the local pub trade has been badly hit because of customers who have either had to move out of the town to temporary accommodation or been forced to tighten their belts.

George Hall, who has been manager of the popular Joiners Arms pub next to the River Wansbeck for 20 years, said: “We saw our trade go down by about 3% following the introduction of the smoking ban and after that there have been further problems like massive tax and price increases, the recession and cheap supermarket prices.

“Then the flooding hit us in September and made things even more terrible. Times are very hard for pubs at the moment, and when you hear about the numbers closing every week across the country it is frightening.

“We are part of the Sir John Fitzgerald chain and my pub, and the group in general, is now on the up again. This is a traditional pub and we haven’t suffered as much as some others, but some of the fun pubs in Morpeth seem to have been hit badly.”

Page 4: Tough times for landlords