We need politicians to come up with a real plan to save pubs says Phil Mellows

A pint of beer on a table next to a bowl of chips — Credit – Ewan Munro from London, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

There’s an old saying that you shouldn’t talk politics in pubs.

Yet, as BBC business editor Simon Jack noted the other day, “pubs punch above their political weight”, and that’s something politicians know well – just watch MPs scrambling to be snapped at a bar clutching a pint come election time.

That’s been ratcheted up a notch in the current crisis, though, with Reform UK announcing proposals it claims will save our pubs. Wetherspoon chairman Sir Tim Martin, who has shut down two of his three Newham pubs in the recent past, was quick to come out in favour.

He couldn’t understand why the rest of the industry didn’t join him. There’s a simple reason. Reform’s policies don’t add up. Literally.

Leader Nigel Farage says he can cut beer duty, VAT, employer’s National Insurance and business rates all by restoring the two-child benefit cap that Labour tied itself in knots to scrap only a few months ago.

Even if you think squeezing struggling families for cash is a good idea, that will raise only £3bn, about £10bn shy of what Farage reckons is needed to help pubs.

So, Reform’s plan is nonsense. Please don’t fall for it. See through the uncritical reports that have appeared in the media, including other local newspapers.

But, you have to say, at least it’s a plan. Politicians have only just begun to grasp, with the very tips of their fingers, the idea that pubs have a social value in bringing people together, easing loneliness and generally bringing positive vibes to a community. And that’s the whole community, not just the part that Farage undoubtedly has in mind.

If you truly believe this, you’ll want to make sure pubs don’t fail through not being able to make enough profit (which is what is happening now).

You’ll recognise that the ruthless rules of capitalism cannot apply. You have to go beyond the bailouts and the firefighting. You’ve got to have a government plan, a plan specifically for pubs.

And so far, like the pint in a pub with no beer, we’re still waiting for it.

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