Pub industry ‘screaming for a reset’ amid wave of closures, says Shepherd Neame boss
The beer and pub industry is “screaming for a reset”, the boss of the UK’s oldest brewer has warned, as companies brace for more venue closures under the strain of sharp tax hikes and minimum wage rises.
Jonathan Neame, chief executive of Aquis-listed Shepherd Neame, which traces its roots back to 1698, said the “real turning point” for the fate of hundreds of pubs which have closed over recent months was the hike to employer’s national insurance contributions introduced last year.
“Everyone in the sector would be unanimous in saying it was a very poor decision where the outcome that we see in the sector today is about 100,000 less jobs than in October 2024,” Neame told Morning Wire.
“The sector is chronically overtaxed – I think the whole industry is screaming for a reset. We’ve been on a 40-50 year escalator of taxation and it’s beyond the laffer curve, it has reached the point of beyond saturation.
“There is a jobs crisis, particularly for graduates and young people, and there is a ticking time bomb related to jobs and AI. There’s no growth in the economy, there’s less tax receipts.
“If you back us, you will get a return that meets the needs of the country. The industry is saying, for goodness sake, this is a world class industry, we employ a million people, reset and you’ll get a reward.”
Neame’s warnings come after a wave of major corporate collapses in the beer and pub sector as a surge in cost pressures push businesses to the brink of bankruptcy.
Earlier this week, Scottish beer business Brewdog unveiled hundreds of job cuts after the company was bought out of administration, while last week, the US owners of Cornwall-based Sharp’s brewery announced plans for its closure, a move which would lead to the loss of around 200 jobs. Some estimates put the rate of pub closures over the past year at around one a day.
Despite huge technological shifts set to reshape the UK in the coming years, Neame said pubs would remain a vital part of the economy.
“Of all the social trends in front of me, the one thing that won’t change in Britain is the need to socialise, of which the pub is the most likely place. The one major barrier that will get in that way is the central issue in front of us, namely, if it is taxed and regulated out of existence.”