Even Paul Hollywood can’t win the Great British Pub Game

From Hollywood to South East England. Paul Hollywood has defended his wife, Melissa Hollywood after she was forced to close a historical pub that she owns with her family in Smarden, Kent, in a row that lays bare the hospitality pay crisis.

Locals have opposed the Hollywoods’ plans to turn the 600-year-old Chequers Inn into a home. They claimed that closing it would hurt the local economy. But Hollywood said that his wife’s family had sunk thousands into the business and simply could not afford to continue.

The story will be familiar to UK towns and villages (minus the famous name), as a crippling economy makes running a pub unviable for landlords and publicans.

Research suggests the average pint price will rise to over a fiver this year, as hospitality firms grapple with a cocktail of decreasing spending, a pay crisis, and labour shortages.

“It is a business that is losing money”

According to a report by The Guardian, Melissa Hollywood’s family has owned the Chequers Inn for 16 years. The pub is one of three taprooms in Smarden.

The family had originally planned to sell the business but were unable to find a buyer. Despite being up for sale for four years, and being listed by four estate agents, just one offer was made on the property valued at under £1m in 2020.

This was despite the owners spending “thousands of pounds” on a renovation, including a cash injection from the celebrity chef and Bake Off presenter himself.

Paul Hollywood hit out at locals who had objected to the conversion plans, describing them as “vindictive”. “It is a beautiful pub, but it is a business that is losing money”, he added.

In the last year, records show that Wetherspoons, the UK’s most successful pub chain, has sold or surrendered the lease on 26 of its pubs. Another 10 locations are currently for sale.

Talent drought

Pubs, bars, and restaurants across the country are dealing with much depleted revenue as the cost of living crisis combines with increasing rent and business rates bills.

The biggest issue for many businesses is hiring. Small profit margins mean the sector is typically low pay and struggles to offer a competitive wage to new starters. Post-Brexit, and due to tightened immigration laws, hiring cheaper foreign labour is also no longer an option.

At the same time, a hike in minimum wage rates earlier this year saw the National Living Wage rise to £11.44 per hour, pushing staffing bills to breaking point.

At the start of this year, a Startups survey found that 19% of hospitality firms felt unable to meet staff pay expectations in 2024; the most negative sentiment of any sector.

Speaking at the Smarden planning meeting, Melissa Hollywood alluded to these issues in a plea for empathy towards her elderly father, who works in the pub.

“Ask yourself – would you work a 12- to 16-hour shift every day just to make a loss, and would you do it if you were 80 years old with a life-threatening heart condition?” she said.

Save Our Pubs

It’s not just towns that are suffering. In London, the city with the strongest local economy in the UK, around 3,000 pubs and bars have closed since 2020 due to lack of funds.

The crisis is frustrating for patrons, as the Smarden debacle shows. Pubs are a British institution, and local residents clearly care strongly about its survival. In a report filed against the application, Smarden parish council said the pub had “historical significance” to the town.

However, according to Hollywood, the disappointment has bubbled over into bitterness. “The vindictiveness from the locals towards the family who have been here 18 years is unforgivable,” Paul Hollywood told BBC South East last week.

That Chequers Inn was a loss-making business suggests that its customers might have taken its place on the high street for granted. Small brands need support to avoid going into administration. Especially those without a well-known TV presenter to help them out.

The government has said it plans to aid brick-and-mortar firms by reforming business rates. Until then, the Chequers Inn is a reminder that SMEs cannot be rescued after the fact. Customers must buy from small businesses, or risk losing them altogether.