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The British Beer and Pub Association recently revealed that 39 pubs a week are being closed down due to a steady fall in consumer spending and increases in beer tax.

Urban and suburban freehouses are falling the fastest compared to tied pub companies and big brewery pubs.

These pubs are being sold off for development. It is also relatively easy to get closures approved by local councils and to ignore petitions to save freehouses, according to Greg Mulholland, Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West.

Regional brewers seem set to weather the current economic storm, over and above large pub companies, as they make speciality ales that can be bought in pubs and shops and off-licences. So companies such as Greene King, Fuller and Youngs & Co. are still seeing sales even though more pub-goers are opting to stay at home.

According to a newly published survey by broker Seymour Pierce, every pub has an average of £600,000 of debt in what is being called a “debt hangover”.

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RBS are reportedly pondering on whether to put up 1000 of its pubs for sale, although they are refusing to comment publicly on the topic.

The pubs in question are all managed by Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises. Word has it that RBS are scouting about for a cash-rich pub chain operator or property company. Scottish & Newscastle themselves are believed to be thinking about the purchase, although they are similarly tight-lipped.

Anyone with cash and hankering to own a chain of pubs may well find that this low in the market is the perfect time to buy.

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