Thousands of pubs to close amid the chaos of the cost of living crisis as energy bills double

Major pub and brewery bosses are warning that people across the country will be called upon in the coming months by energy price hikes of up to 400%.

Executives of six of the UK's biggest companies fear soaring costs are no more of a danger to Britain's major institution than the Covid crisis, when pubs were forced to remain closed for long periods .

With closures looming and job losses threatened, business leaders have signed an open letter to the government urging it to act now to avoid 'real and serious irreversible' damage to the industry.< /p>

Greene King, JW Lees, Carlsberg Marston's, Admiral Taverns, Drake & Morgan and St Austell Brewery have all sounded the alarm as runaway gas prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine have left pub owners and tenants facing crippling energy bills.

Unlike national energy prices, businesses do not benefit from price caps, although regulator Ofgem last week raised its limit on household bills by 80% from October.

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Now family brewers and big brands have banded together to ask for emergency aid to save our pubs.

Nick Mackenzie, managing director of the 2,700-strong Greene King Group, has revealed that a tenant suffered a £33,000 increase in their energy bill for the year.

He said: "While the government has put in place measures to help households deal with this price spike, businesses have to deal with it on their own, and the situation will only get worse in the future. fall.

Miranda has made the heartbreaking decision to close her pub (

Picture:

SWNS)

"Without immediate government action to support the sector, we could face the prospect of pubs being unable to pay their bills, jobs being lost and beloved locals across the country being forced to leave. close their doors, which means all the good work done to keep pubs open during the pandemic could be wasted.”

Kevin Georgel, Managing Director of St Austell Brewery, said: "Having survived the unprecedented challenges arising from the pandemic, pubs and breweries are once again facing an existential threat due to circumstances beyond their control.

"The cost of energy threatens to cause massive business failures and the loss of thousands of pubs across the country.

"As an example, one of our tenants - whose current gas contract ends next week - was quoted yesterday with a 417% increase over what he is currently paying for a one year fixed price contract."

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William Lees Jones, Managing Director of the JW Lees Pubs Group, said: "In some cases tenants are telling us because their businesses don't have energy at these costs.

"These are not just pubs, but people's homes and the heart of the communities in which they sit.

"The government must expand...