Pub closures since Brexit

​FOI Reference: FOI/2022/4401

You asked

Since Brexit how many pubs many pubs have closed?

We said

​Thank you for your Freedom of Information request enquiring the number of pub closures since Brexit.

We produce an annual publication called Business Demography that measures both business births and business deaths. Data in the publication are taken from the Inter Departmental Business Register (IDBR) and consist of businesses registered with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for Value Added Tax (VAT) and/or Pay as You Earn (PAYE).

Business demography measures businesses that were active throughout the reference year. The reference period is December, and therefore the 2020 publication measures businesses that were active between December 2019 and December 2020. Being active means that the business had either turnover or employment at any time during the reference year. The file of active businesses is compared with previous and subsequent files in order to identify business births and deaths and up to five-year survival rates. Please note the deaths data for 2019 and 2020 are provisional. Please see associated download titled Pub closures between 2016 to 2020.

2021 data is scheduled for publication on the 17 November 2022. Therefore this information is exempt under Section 22(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, whereby information is exempt from release if there is a view to publish the information in the future. Furthermore, as a central government department and producer of official statistics, we need to have the freedom to be able to determine our own publication timetables. This is to allow us to deal with the necessary preparation, administration and context of publications. It would be unreasonable to consider disclosure when to do so would undermine our functions.

This exemption is subject to a public interest test. We recognise the desirability of information being freely available and this is considered by ONS when publication schedules are set in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The need for timely data must be balanced against the practicalities of applying statistical skill and judgement to produce the high quality, assured data needed to inform decision-making. If this balance is incorrectly applied, then we run the risk of decisions being based on inaccurate data which is arguably not in the public interest. This will have an impact on public trust in official statistics in a time when accuracy of official statistics is more important to the public than ever before.

Data for 2022 is not yet held. However, please check our Release Calendar for any future updates.

In addition to our annual Business Demography publication, we produce demography statistics on a quarterly basis. However, these data are experimental and are produced using alternative methodology.

If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact our IDBR data service team via idbrdas@ons.gov.uk.