The Plough in Radford recently closed after a century of serving punters, and pub owners and staff have been talking about the problems they face in Nottingham
Nottingham publicans say they would love to sell cheaper pints after one of the city’s historic venues recently closed for good.
The Plough Inn in Radford recently closed its doors after being in business for over 100 years.
The first half of this year has seen 209 closures of pubs across England and Wales – an average of eight a week.
The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) estimates that 378 pubs will close in 2025, leading to 5,600 people losing their jobs.
The Plough Inn was a part of CAMRA and won Nottingham CAMRA Mild Trail best pint for five successive years.
It was also described as the “village pub in the city”.
The social media team at the Plough Inn announced the sad news on all their accounts, blaming the ‘high energy bills, taxes, and employment costs’ that it has faced.
Managers and staff at some of Nottingham’s independent and historic pubs say the closure of The Plough reflects the challenging conditions they are all facing, with one saying it is not easy to ‘compete with Wetherspoons’.
Molly Gregory, a 25-year-old bartender at The Loxley, believes that a lot of the problems facing pubs still come from Covid.
She said: “People realised that drinking from home is a lot cheaper and more convenient than going to pubs.
“Pubs like us are still facing the consequences five years on.”
Jimmy Robinson attributes many of the closures to people not drinking as much as they used to.
The 26-year-old King Billy bartender said: “A couple of years ago, this pub would have a good ton of people day drinking, but now there’s only one customer.
“Victorian buildings like this are very hard to maintain because you are forced to use awkward techniques to keep the building in its best shape, and that can set you back.”
He added: “I will never begrudge people if they want to use Wetherspoons as the economy is an absolute joke and people are only trying to get by.
“It’s not easy as an independent to compete with your Wetherspoons, but that’s just how the economy works.”
