Staff shortages hold back bumper bank holiday trade, say pub bosses

UK pubs saw a jump in sales over the latest bank holiday weekend, but industry bosses have said they missed out on a further £22 million in sales due to a shortage of staff.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said about 57 million pints were poured over the long bank holiday weekend.

However, the industry body said it believes about five million more would have been sold were many pubs not affected by a shortage of workers.

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the group, urged the Government to help ease staffing pressures by widening the UK’s current Shortage Occupation List.

A recent survey by the BBPA, British Institute of Innkeeping, Hospitality Ulster and UKHospitality, showed 61% of hospitality businesses are experiencing staff shortages.

It also showed that 42% of businesses in the sector were reducing opening hours at the weekend due to shortages.

Ms McClarkin said: “Our pubs support economies across the country and during the summer season they thrive on welcoming people from near and far, but they are being held back by an ongoing staffing crisis.

“Businesses are taking initiatives to overcome these challenges through altering menus and shortening hours, but ultimately this means they are not trading to full capacity and in turn that means lower sales and less revenue generated for the Treasury.

“We urgently need the Government to implement solutions to solve the staffing crisis by making changes to the youth mobility scheme and widening the Shortage Occupation List, because brilliant pubs thrive on brilliant people, and we need more of them to reach our full economic potential.”