Pubs around the country have been struggling to meet rising costs, and Suffolk is no different - losing around 10 a year with that number possibly increasing with the sector at "breaking point".
However, a member of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has explained why a pub closing its doors does necessarily mean that it has closed for good.
Nigel Smith is the area organiser for the Suffolk branch of CAMRA, an organisation which works to promote responsible drinking, real ales and ciders, and protecting pubs as social community hubs.
Mr Smith said that CAMRA estimates that 10 pubs close in the county each year.
Among those to close in Suffolk in the past year were the Cock Inn in Little Thurlow, the Railway Tavern in Saxmundham and the Five Bells in Great Cornard. Ipswich lost two bars this week alone, after the closures of La Cueva and K Bar and Grill.
Commonly cited reasons for closure were dwindling numbers of customers, and the soaring costs of energy.
Emma McClarkin, the chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association said that while high closure figures are upsetting, they are “unfortunately not surprising”.
“These are extremely difficult times for our pubs and brewers, and they are doing whatever they can to keep going,” she said.
“With rocketing energy costs, soaring inflation and severe labour shortages, businesses are being pushed to breaking point, with many forced to reduce opening hours, or as these figures show, cease trading altogether.
"Pubs want to stay open and provide a warm and welcoming space for their communities but it’s becoming more and more difficult to do so. We’re in real and serious danger of many more pubs being forced to close and losing them from the heart of villages, towns and cities across the UK forever."
Mr Smith explained that while high numbers of pubs are closing, it is not uncommon for some to subsequently reopen.
He explained that in cases of permanent closures, the pub owner will need to apply to the planning authority to change the use of the building before it can be repurposed, for example, for private housing.
When pub owners do decide to apply to change the building’s use, he said that CAMRA, or members of the community, can oppose the application.
“You can’t stop the current owners from closing it, but sometime in the future, another owner might choose to open it again,” he explained.
This has been the case for the Dobermann Inn in Framsden. The pub’s current owner, Julia Coulthard, has been attempting to turn the pub into a home, but said in October that planning regulations were preventing her from doing so.
Mr Smith said that some publicans in this situation will close the pubs, but continue living in them and maintaining their licence to sell alcohol. In these instances, pubs which have been closed for many years can, in theory, be sold and reopen.
He said that this was the case for the Railway Tavern in Saxmundham, formerly known as Cooper’s Dip, which he said had closed and reopened many times in recent years.
“The Freston Boot is a popular food pub which was closed for about 15 years, and then reopened five years ago and is now doing really well,” he said.
Mr Smith said that pubs particularly vulnerable to closure are those typically used only for drinking, as opposed to family pubs which also serve food.
So too are those in areas where there are multiple pubs.
“The thinning out of pubs in rural areas, and in estates in towns, has been going on a lot in recent times,” he said.
“Most of the pubs lost tend to be the second or third pub in a village, or estate pubs around some of the towns.”
In areas where there is only one pub, he explained that owners will struggle to successfully apply for permission to repurpose the building and its land.
He concluded that while pubs continue to open and close, sometimes permanently and sometimes temporarily, the landscape was impossible to predict.
“This industry is never totally static. There are always one or two gains, even in the darkest periods,” he said.
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