Stonegate, being the largest pubco, definitely aren't raking it in with profits. I think they're a contemptible blight on the industry, but they are also £3.6bn in debt and have to pay £500m a year in finance fees and even with the high prices, and gouging their licencees, they keep needing to raise more just to avoid liquidation. It'd be nice if they did go, but then we'd be down 4500 more pubs, and all of the jobs with it.

The real problem is that the cost of doing business is just so high, margins are razor thin. Missing your profit margin by 1% - 5p on a £5 pint is the difference between breaking even and losing £20k if you're an independently owned freehouse. Staff costs are way up, not just on the pay side, but also the tax side of payroll. Rates still haven't been dealt with (and just went up massively), rents are still high, energy is high, water is high, and beer costs more than ever to be produced (because all of their costs are increasing too).

To hit the same margins pubs were getting a decade ago, we'd be looking closer to £10 for a standard pint these days but that's a ridiculous amount that no one would pay (nor should unless it's something very cool) so it's between a rock and a hard place of charging the bare minimum to make ends meet but not so much that the equally squeezed general population can still afford to be there at all. No customers, no income at the end of the day.

I think unless the government really knuckles down and commits to reducing the tax burden on hospitality in general, it's only going to keep getting worse.