BrewDog to shut 10 bars amid ‘extraordinarily tough’ time for hospitality trade

[ad_1] BrewDog will shut 10 bars, together with its flagship location in Aberdeen, amid an “extraordinarily tough” surroundings for pubs and eating places.

James Taylor, the chief govt of the brewer, instructed workers in an electronic mail that it was now not viable to maintain the bars open. They're in Aberdeen, Brighton, Camden, Dundee, Leeds North Avenue, Oxford, Sheffield, Shepherd’s Bush, Shoreditch and York.

Taylor, who took over as chief govt lower than 5 months in the past, stated that “regardless of our greatest efforts”, it was not capable of make the bars viable “as a consequence of their dimension, location and different limiting elements”.

He wrote: “Following a lot consideration, we have now sadly concluded that there is no such thing as a life like prospect of constructing these venues commercially viable,.” The bars are as a consequence of shut on Saturday.

“Holding them open would put stress on the broader enterprise, making it tougher to speculate the place we all know we will develop. This choice shouldn't be merely a response to the difficult UK hospitality market, however a proactive choice to redefine the bar division’s focus.”

BrewDog, which relies in Aberdeenshire, stated it employed greater than 3,000 individuals worldwide in 2023 after a interval of great enlargement.

The enterprise was based as a “punk” challenger model by the entrepreneurs James Watt and Martin Dickie in 2006 in Dickie’s mum’s storage in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, and has expanded to provide beer to supermarkets, open bars and open accommodations.

The corporate declined to touch upon what number of workers might be affected by the closures however stated it was going via a “significant and applicable session course of” with everybody affected. This course of will final not less than two weeks, it stated, with one-to-one conferences for each particular person susceptible to dropping their job.

A spokesperson for BrewDog stated: “We're working onerous to minimise the influence on our individuals, and we anticipate to redeploy many affected crew members throughout the BrewDog community.”

Information of the closures comes because the hospitality sector faces rising price pressures, with larger nationwide insurance coverage contributions and will increase to the residing wage.

The resort and pub chain Oakman Inns lately went into administration, in accordance with experiences. The Hertfordshire-based chain has closed six websites, leading to 159 job losses, its administrator, PwC, instructed the BBC.

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Taylor is the second chief govt at BrewDog throughout the area of a yr after the previous boss James Arrow left the enterprise for “private causes” in March. Taylor had been the chief monetary officer on the firm since 2023. Watt stepped down as its boss final yr.

The most recent accounts for BrewDog confirmed income had grown from £321m to £355m within the yr ending in 2023. Nevertheless, larger prices and write-downs on underperforming bars meant that pre-tax losses widened from £30m to £59.2m.

The squeeze on the hospitality trade has hit pubs onerous. Greater than 400 pubs in England and Wales closed final yr, with the general quantity falling under 39,000 for the primary time.