BrewDog: ‘Clueless’ Tories must act now as pubs, restaurants face cost of living crisis
The next UK Prime Minister needs to urgently address the cost of living and energy crises and their impact upon pubs, bars, restaurants, says James Watt, BrewDog CEO and Co-Founder.
The beer big hitter recently celebrated the opening of its biggest ever bar, in Waterloo, London.
At the same time, however, it is closing six pubs due to soaring energy costs.
In a LinkedIn post, Watt said: “Waterloo was amazing, but reality is biting – Liz Truss/Rishi Sunak (both of whom are currently battling it out to be the next PM) please stop the charade.”
He added: “The Waterloo bar in many ways epitomises where we want to evolve our bar estate. Of course not all our bars can have the scale of Waterloo, but we are looking to do something different with them.”
“To provide incredible experiences for our wonderful, fun, loyal customers who want to drink a beautifully brewed beer, in a great environment, served by knowledgeable, passionate people with the option of the food we all love.”
“And we have lots of new openings planned with over 20 locations in construction and planning.”
The move must not, though, blind BrewDog to “the reality we as a sector are facing, nor to the sheer ‘rabbit in the headlights’ paralysis of this zombie government, still intent on this bizarre leadership farce, instead of getting to grips with the kind of challenges that will result in more business causalities than the pandemic did.”
Watt flagged up industry experts who estimate that up to 70% of the UK’s bars, pubs and restaurants could be forced to close due to soaring energy prices and huge cost price increases.
“Unfortunately, we are not exempt from these headwinds,” he commented.
“Last night we confirmed we were to close six bars around the UK and it is heart breaking to lose these locations. I warned a few weeks ago, costs are rising to such a degree, with no prospect of any help from a clueless government, that these very difficult decisions have to be made.”
He continued: “It was going to be simply impossible to get these bars even close to financial viability in the foreseeable future. We had no choice but to close them.”
“I am so, so happy that due to the strength in other parts of our bar estate, every single person has been offered a role in a separate bar nearby, so there will be no job losses. But I pray this is not a sign of things to come.”
Watt concluded: “Reality in the hospitality space is starting to bite and bite hard. And the government needs to get a grip, now.”
“If nothing happens, the UK looks set to lose half of its pubs and bars and all the millions of jobs these locations provide, as well as the vital role they play in local communities.”
