All over Preston pubs are closing and leaving people jobless before Christmas.
At the height of the credit crunch over 20 public houses have been forced into closure in Preston, due to higher taxes on beer and people having less money to spend.
Friday and Saturday nights used to be packed; now they are a former shadow of what night life used to be like.
Beer sales in pubs are now at their lowest since the 1930’s, this has resulted that on average Preston is losing about 12 pubs a year. The British Beer and Pubs Association (BBPA) revealed that the current pub closure rate is seven times faster than in 2006.
People no longer feel secure in their jobs, so when they get paid, instead of going on a night out drinking, they are staying home and saving.
Elizabeth Cropper, manager from The Robin Hood Inn, Bluestone Lane, Mawdesley, Ormskirk, tells us that their business is suffering as well,
“We are bringing in half the numbers that we used to bring in, it’s hit us hard. We still have our loyal customers but even they can’t come as often as they used to.”
There are a number of factors that are being blamed for this recent decline in business, Mrs Cropper said: “People just don’t have the money they used to have; it’s all to do with the credit crunch. I don’t think that the smoking ban has affected us because we are more of an eating pub, but I know it has affected business in other pubs.”
The government could help pubs dealing with financial difficulties by cutting the business rates, but so far that hasn’t happened and more and more pubs in Preston continue to close.

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The credit crunch has hit Preston, affecting not just the people, but the businesses as well. It has recently been reported that Woolworths and MFI have collapsed, endangering hundreds of peoples jobs all over England.To help people deal with the hit of the financial loss, Christians Against Poverty (CAPUK) have opened two new debt counselling centres to help the people of Preston with handling debt. They work along side the church and when a church believes the area they are in is financial difficulty they contact CAPUK and ask them to open a new centre.However something else that has hit Preston hard is the recent closure of over 20 pubs during the last year. This doesn’t just affect breweries and landlords but it affects full time and part time staff as well, throwing them into the ever growing number of unemployment.The pubs are closing because people are being more careful with their money due to the recent food prices rising.Everyone will be suffering this Christmas, even if you haven’t lost your job, you may find it difficult finding somewhere to drink or eat.
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