In 2024, there were 45,000 pubs operating in the United Kingdom. This denoted a slight decrease from the previous year, and continued the downward trend that had been in place since at least 2000. What is the largest pub chain in the UK? In the 2023 financial year, Stonegate ranked as the selected leading pub chain in the UK in terms of units, with over 4,000 properties under its management. Meanwhile, the popular chain JD Wetherspoon had 800 properties. Why are pubs in decline in the UK? Public houses, once considered an important pillar of British communities, have faced several challenges related to changing consumer behavior. The 2007 indoor smoking ban and rising alcohol prices deterred people from drinking in pubs, sparking a trend in ‘pre-loading’ on cheap supermarket-bought alcohol before going out. More recently, the cost of living crisis in the UK has put extra pressure onto consumers' wallets and purses, making eating and drinking out too expensive for many.

Over the five years through 2025-26, revenue is expected to rise at a compound annual rate of 6% to £19.5 billion. The UK’s pub and bar sector faces a turbulent 2025-26, marked by slumping alcohol consumption, steep operating costs, and labour shortages. Alcohol-free and low-ABV drinks are reshaping consumer habits, as moderation replaces heavy drinking. One in five 18- to 24-year-olds now abstains entirely, while one in four UK adults consumes low- or no-alcohol products more often than a year ago, according to The Portman Group and YouGov. To adapt, venues are expanding their mocktail menus, hosting food-led events and offering social, experience-based formats such as brunches, bingo and interactive games to draw customers in throughout the day. However, rising labour costs and chronic staff shortages – with 78,000 vacancies remaining unfilled according to the ONS – are pushing businesses to their breaking point. Wage hikes, higher insurance rates and mounting stress are fuelling burnout and closures. Higher alcohol duties, energy costs and reduced business rates relief further squeeze margins. Pubs now pay 40% rates instead of 75% relief, triggering widespread closures – over 400 in 2024 alone. Gastropubs, hit by food inflation, face the greatest strain, while bars focusing on cocktails and social experiences continue to grow modestly. Survival depends on innovation, diversification and reform. Pubs and bars investing in digital tools, sustainability and flexible formats will be best placed to weather 2025’s challenging trading climate. In 2025-26, revenue is anticipated to increase by 0.6% and the average profit margin is expected to reach 9.6%. Over the five years through 2030-31, revenue is expected to increase at a compound annual rate of 5.1% to £25 billion, where profit is expected to absorb 9.7% of revenue. The UK hospitality sector is bracing for major change as a business rates overhaul takes effect in April 2026. Under the new regime, smaller pubs, bars and restaurants with a rateable value of under £500,000 will benefit from permanently lower rates, while larger or city-centre venues will face higher tax burdens. The reform, replacing temporary relief schemes, aims to create stability but risks penalising high-value sites and deterring investment. Industry leaders broadly welcome the move but warn that sharp cliff edges could hit mid-sized operators hardest. At the same time, cultural shifts are reshaping demand. Low- and no-alcohol consumption continues to rise, especially among younger generations. Venues that integrate premium alcohol-free options, mocktail menus and inclusive experiences stand to capture significant new revenue. Premiumisation could also be a key growth strategy. Consumers are drinking less but better – seeking craftsmanship, story and atmosphere.

This dataset illustrates the distribution of pub and bar occasions in the UK by age group in 2025. It highlights how different age cohorts engage with pubs and bars, providing insights into generational behaviours and visitation patterns within the eating and drinking out market.

Location of all Pubs and Nightclubs throughout the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council Area.

Geocoded Pubs in England with Food Hygiene Ratings

Establishments and their Location Information

By GetTheData [source]

About this dataset

This dataset - Geocoded Open Pubs in England, with Food Hygiene Ratings - contains data on open pubs located in England, such as their FSA ID, name, address and postcode, easting and northing coordinates for geographical mapping purposes, as well as latitude and longitude values. This information can be used to plot pubs onto a map or to create applications that allow you to locate the nearest pub. You can also mashup this data with other geocoded datasets for even more prospects of use. With this dataset you are able to link the pub with their corresponding data in the Food Standards Agency's Food Hygiene Ratings database and work out an efficient route should you want to embark upon an epic pub crawl around England!

The raw data used for this dataset comes from the Food Standard Agency's Food Hygiene Ratings database and is licensed under their terms & conditions. The local authority field is derived from the ONS Postcode Directory which is licenced under OGL (Open Government Licence). This open-data has been published by GetTheData (https://www.getthedata.com) thank you!

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How to use the dataset

• To get started with this data set you'll need to have some basic understanding of GIS systems (GPS) as well as knowledge on finding FSA ID's. With that said let's go through a few simple steps on how best to utilise this dataset:

• Take at look at the columns provided in the data set as they will provide you useful insight into what kind of information is available for each pub. This will let you narrow down certain pubs if it matches your purpose or location better than others.

• Once you've determined which pubs may fit your criteria use either easting/northing or lat/long (depending what platform you are using) along with other columns such as postal code or local authority for reference points - making sure to double check accuracy when referencing certain areas.

  • Making sure your referenced locations are correct allow them act like floor plans - pinning parks and buses stops around these points can further help locate some great points of interest within a given area e.,g parks nearby or bus stops leading up closer getting there!

  • With this close eye over specific areas it makes easier going tracking down information related places whether they be small scale (pubs) or large scale (town centres). Additional data sourced from such sources like OS Maps make plotting additional layers easier ensuring accuracy when pinpointing locations but also keeping track route paths taking guesses out off tricky situations finding right direction any situation providing routes between multiple points easily

• Hitting two birds one stone make effort successful poking around featured area especially selecting best displayed locations putting all pieces together combining datasets creating mashups applications expanding knowledge individual topics make understanding clear meet first goal achieving aspirations goals prospects far simpler task making complete process lot enjoyable bringing desired results forefront far quicker rate providing quality end product everytime respecting boundaries regulations policies standards privacy all times highest level appreciation recognition pick one best suited everyone occasion last statement something think thoroughly research upon ensuring confident before building individual or company related projects using geocoded based datasets obtain full understanding

Research Ideas

• Combining pubs and their respective food hygiene ratings to create an app that helps users select and rate pubs based on their last inspection rating.
• Creating an automated pub-crawling route planner to help guide pub crawls more efficiently, based on geographical locations of pubs in the dataset.
• Creating a web application that displays all Open Pubs at once with their addresses and contact details for customers to find easily, either by simply typing in the postcode or zooming in into an area on a map

Acknowledgements

If you use this dataset in your research, please credit the original authors. Data Source

License

See the dataset description for more information.

Columns

File: open_pubs.csv | Column name | Description | |:-----------------------------------------------...

Number of public houses and bars, employment in them and median employment per workplace, broken down by employee size. For 2001 to 2018, and for local authorities.

Data on pubs and bars, employment therein, and median pub or bar, by region and nation of the UK, 2001 to 2019.

A dataset showing UK pub name, address, easting, northing, lat, lon, and local authority. Also included is a link to a mashup of data between pubs and bus stops. Please note The dataset is derived from the FSA Food Hygiene Ratings, from which the pubs/bars/nightclubs are extracted, cleaned up and then combined with the ONS Postcode Directory in order to map pubs to local authority. This is a processed dataset derived from official published sources. It may contain alterations, aggregations or cleaned-up versions of data published elsewhere. Please note, this dataset may be a one-off publication and may not be updated.

Comprehensive dataset containing 38,643 verified Pub businesses in United Kingdom with complete contact information, ratings, reviews, and location data.

This dataset shows the market value share of the UK pub and bar sector by segment, providing a breakdown of value contribution across key formats to illustrate the competitive landscape.

As part of the Cultural Infrastructure Plan, an annual audit of pubs using the Inter-Departmental Business Register data is produced.

The overall number of pubs in London has remained largely unchanged since 2018.

• There were 3,535 pubs in London in 2023.
• Overall employee numbers increased in 2023 for the first time since the pandemic in 2020. In 2023, there were 49,000 jobs in London pubs, above the previous peak in 2020 at 48,000 jobs.
• The share of jobs in large pubs (with more than 10 employees) reached 85% in 2023, while the share of jobs in smaller pubs dropped to 14%, its lowest value in the data going back to 2001.
• Among local authorities, 13 recorded a decrease in pub numbers in 2023 compared to 2022, 13 recorded an increase and the rest saw no significant change.

The long-term trends remain the same as reported in the previous iteration of this analysis:

• Overall, pub numbers have declined over the past 21 years in most London boroughs and in the capital overall but employment has increased as the average pub has become larger.
• While the decline in pub numbers reflects an overall UK trend, the number of employees increased by more in London (17%) than the UK average (6%) since 2001.

In 2024, Stonegate was the leading selected pub chain in the United Kingdom by number of units, with ***** properties. Meanwhile, Greene King had the second highest number of pub sites, with *****. How many pubs are there in the UK? There were ****** pubs in the United Kingdom in 2024. This represented a decrease of approximately ****** pubs when compared to 20 years prior. Several factors have been suggested for the decline in pubs in the UK. These include the indoor smoking ban in 2007, rising alcohol prices, and a preference for socializing at home. Younger generations are also drinking less, with many young British adults choosing not to drink at all. How much revenue do British pub chains generate? In the 2023/24 financial year, JD Wetherspoon generated **** billion British pounds in revenue, which was one of the highest turnovers among the UK's leading pub chains. In fact, despite having fewer sites than Stonegate, JD Wetherspoon had over *** million British pounds more in revenue than Stonegate.

Discover all restaurants, fast food, pubs and bars inside E00099750 and surrounding areas.

Counts of pubs across in England and Wales. Geographies include local authority districts (LADs), built up areas (BUAs) and combined authorities.

Discover all restaurants, fast food, pubs and bars inside E00132040 and surrounding areas.

Data are provided on pubs and bars and employment therein, by size and by city region, 2001 to 2019.

Names, addresses, longitude and latitude of Pubs, bars and nightclubs rated as food premises by the Food Standards Agency Scotland (FSA). This data is not a comprehensive list, only a convenient way to identify their locations. There are no guarantees to currency, only that the premises existed on the rating date. Data extracted: 2014-02-14 from the complete FSA dataset Food Hygiene Information Scheme Rating Licence: None 2014-02-14-fsa-pubs.xlsx - https://dataservices.open.glasgow.gov.uk/Download/Organisation/d1be1dd4-092e-42e2-b5d0-fccd7898fd0f/Dataset/3ce09415-e434-44ad-b814-48ac91284408/File/855a6df9-ef94-4a28-9a27-ddb81406d674/Version/7efac658-3408-4840-9ae4-354f77b4ba8f

The number of workplaces and employment in London for the Industrial Sectors: Public Houses and Bars Licensed restaurants Unlicensed restaurants and cafes Take away food shops and mobile food stands Licensed clubs For Public Houses and Bars an analysis is also presented by workplace size, and by workplace MSOA.

Discover all restaurants, fast food, pubs and bars inside Loose and surrounding areas.