We lost it! I played rugby in France, England and Japan. In all those countries I have always known a drinking establishment linked to the club. In France, it was my father’s bar and restaurant. In England it was the club house and the George in Burnham High Street and in Japan a small izakaya near the station.
The George in Burnham High Street has closed its doors a couple of weeks ago. A combination of cheap supermarket beer, high rent, high rates and recession made it an unviable business.
One rugby club stalwart had tears in his eyes when he told me about the George’s demise. He had been drinking in the George for 44 years. The George is very much part of the rugby club history. The function room upstairs was in fact the first clubhouse. Since joining the rugby club almost 20 years ago, I have always known the George to be the place where you are sure to meet somebody from the rugby club for a quick chat after work while enjoying a pint of real ale.
The George is not one of those modern pubs with underage drinkers, noisy music, etc… It is a regular’s pub. The beer is faultless with at least two guest beers every day; it is even listed in the CAMRA guide. So why the demise?
Pub closures up to 52 a week i.e. more than seven a day. This is 24,000 jobs lost in the last year
2,377 pubs close in last 12 months. The Government lost over £254 million in tax in last 12 months due to pubs closing. Why?
Supermarkets sell lager for £1 per can and cheap wine for £4 a bottle. An independent pub needs to sell a pint of lager for just over £3. The large chain pub i.e. Wetherspoon sells beer for just over £2, hence why they are still going strong. Wetherspoons are full people the moment they open their doors at 10 am, it is the place for the local alcoholics to get their fix. Not a place I want to hang out!
Landlords prefer having empty shops, pubs and commercial property rather than lower the rent as they feel that it will then become difficult to get back to the original rent any time soon. Basically, you signed a lease and must honour it. A great majority of small businesses could be helped if Business Rates were suspended for a year or at least until the recession is over. This would help numerous small businesses to survive but probably not as glamorous as bailing out large banks but so much more effective. SMEs in UK employ nearly five million people, what a difference would this make? Certainly more than lowering the VAT by 2.5%!
Let’s hope that John and Tracy can bounce back.
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