17 Jan 2012

BBC News - Oxfordshire loses 35 pubs in 2011

Oxfordshire loses 35 pubs in 2011

Thirty-five pubs closed in Oxfordshire last year, including 11 which will never reopen, the Campaign for Real Ale has said.

The British Beer and Pub Association said nationally 14 pubs closed every week, down from 52 a week in 2009.

But the chief executive, Brigid Simmonds, said beer taxation was still a "big problem" for the industry.

She said: "We pay 40% of all beer tax in the whole of Europe and that is killing pubs."

'Got to be good'

The Lamb at Satwell just outside Nettlebed closed two weeks ago.

Its co-owner Chris Smith said it was difficult to compete with the price of supermarket alcohol.

"You see the drinkers getting less and less all the time," he said.

Paul Clerehugh, from The Crooked Billet at nearby Stoke Row, said pubs were the most important part of the village and could be made to work.

"Pubs have got to be good to have any value to the community," he said.

Posted via email from UK Pubs For Sale And Development

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