Why the government’s attempt to change pub opening hours is just spin

Last Thursday the government unexpectedly found itself in hot water with licensees thanks to a seemingly innocuous press release announcing proposed changes to the UK licensing regime.

 

The proposal was uncontroversial – an invitation for those in the trade to consult on a raft of proposed deregulatory reforms that had been drawn up with the help of a taskforce of industry insiders – so what was the problem?

 

Well, as so often in politics, it came down to a question of spin. The government’s own story proudly proclaimed: “Cheers to change: red tape review could bring more food, music and fun to your local. The government is launching a fast-track review to tear up outdated licensing rules that have been holding back pubs, bars and local events.”

 

The buoyant message was quickly picked up by media outlets, including The Guardian and the BBC, and stories soon appeared, echoing the government’s stated hope that measures would help pubs thrive and thus boost UK economic growth.

 

Most of the reports seized on the attention-grabbing possibility of longer licensing hours, with The Guardian headline trumpeting: “Pubs to stay open until early hours in push for UK growth.”

 

This angle received an immediate and predictable push back from the health lobby, but also from members of the taskforce itself, who felt it was an unfair depiction of their proposals.

 

Meanwhile, social media came alive with exasperated publicans blasting the pointlessness of later service and more licensable activities at a time when most businesses are being forced to cut their opening hours. These sentiments were echoed in a rapid follow-up article by The Guardian, which quoted many industry operators.

 

“Growth might be the government’s favourite buzzword, but for hospitality it is a pipe dream”

 

Others vocally bemoaned the composition of the taskforce itself, and pointed to the lack of licensees involved in favour of the usual industry groups and corporate representatives that claim to speak for them.

 

It was widely argued that nobody had actually asked for these reforms, with many accusing the government of wanting to be seen to be doing something to help the industry while ignoring very real and pressing existential threats.

 

At Campaign for Pubs we swiftly issued a statement that pointed to the critical ongoing problems: crippling VAT, unmanageable business rates and eye-watering energy costs. In regard to the government’s pro-growth claims, we further added our call for urgent industry reform to curb corporate abuse of the beer tie, and the anti-competitive exclusion of UK independent suppliers from much of the UK pub supply chain.

 

These are the real burdens weighing down our industry, and any claim to help pubs that ducks these topics is, quite simply, spin.

 

Growth might be the government’s favourite buzzword, but for hospitality it is a pipe dream. What we need is to stop the rot of mass closures, which cost jobs and livelihoods throughout entire supply chains and have a further dire knock-on effect on the public purse.

 

Tinkering with licensing will not save businesses and livelihoods any more than the absurd gimmick of “penny off a pint” duty cuts (which only truly benefit huge global brewers). Licensees are perfectly entitled to be up in arms when such modest and marginal proposals are trumpeted as a credible pro-growth boon for an industry in such truly dire straits.

 

Government messaging matters, especially so at times of crisis, and the crisis in pubs and hospitality is deep, painful, long-lasting and very real.

 

Paul Crossman is a working licensee with three pubs in York, and is chair of the Campaign for Pubs

 

Photo: Dusan Petkovic/Shutterstock