UK’s main pub chain selling out bars due to energy prices – RT Business News
UK pub operator Marston’s has announced plans to sell some of its sites, saying revenue in the year to October was still 1% down on 2019 as sales continued to be hit by the worsening cost of living crisis.
“We have some non-strategic lower end sites which we will sell over the next year…our strategy is not to be a group of city and city center pubs,” Marston CEO Andrew Andrea told The Standard, warning that electricity prices in recent weeks have been higher than expected due to a “volatile market”.
Andrea added that the sale of the pubs was unlikely to include London sites because “They still work quite well.”
According to the executive, there were signs of green shoots in the business, with revenue in recent weeks up 4% above 2019 levels and hopes of a World Cup rebound later this year.
“If I look at the Premier League and Champions League seasons to date, people are still going out to pubs to watch sport – it’s a good place to go with friends,” he told the media. “As the tournament goes on, if England are there, you see an increase in sales.”
READ MORE:
UK pubs and brewers risk closure – FT
In September, Marston’s rivals Mitchells & Butlers warned of tighter margins in its new fiscal year as costs rise. Last week, Wetherspoon’s said annual operating costs had almost doubled.
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