161 UK pubs closed in the first quarter of 2026. That's nearly two a day, a 26% jump on the same quarter last year, and around 2,400 jobs gone with them. This page is the running ledger: every closure figure as it's published, what's driving them, and what each number actually measures. I update it as each quarter's data lands. Last updated 23 August 2026.
I'm a licensee in Washington, Tyne and Wear, so I read these numbers differently to a journalist. Every closure in this table is a building with a cellar and a set of margins that stopped working. Most of the causes were outside the licensee's control. Not all of them.
The closure ledger
| Period | Closures | Type | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2026 | 161 (~2 a day) | Gross | BBPA, May 2026 |
| Q1 2025 | 128 | Gross | BBPA, May 2026 |
| Full year 2025 | 336 | Net | BBPA |
| Last five years | ~2,200 (46,829 → 44,656) | Net | BBPA |
| 2000 to 2019 | 13,600 (a 22% fall) | Net | House of Commons Library |
Q2 2026 figures hadn't been published when I last updated this page. When they land, they go in the table. On Lumina Intelligence's separate outlet census the pace works out at about seven net closures a week, on a stricter definition of what counts as a pub. If you want the totals rather than the closures, I've reconciled the three competing pub counts in how many pubs are in the UK in 2026.
One more figure worth holding onto: the East Midlands lost the most pubs of any region between December 2024 and December 2025. The closures aren't spread evenly, and they aren't a London story.
Gross versus net, because headlines mix them up
"Two pubs a day" and "336 closures in a year" sound like they contradict each other. They don't. The two-a-day figure is gross closures, pubs that shut their doors. The 336 is net, closures minus new openings. Both are true at once. When a paper wants a scary number it prints gross, when a trade body wants to show resilience it prints net, and neither is lying. This page keeps them in separate columns so you can quote either without embarrassing yourself.
What's actually driving the 2026 closures
The BBPA's chief executive Emma McClarkin put it plainly in May: the scale of these closures is avoidable, because pubs are doing brisk trade but profits are wiped out by the tax burden and costs. From behind a bar, that matches what I see. Busy and profitable are different things, and 2026 has widened the gap between them.
Here's the cost stack that changed in the twelve months to April 2026. National Living Wage up 4.1% to £12.71 an hour. Employer National Insurance at 15%, with the threshold cut to £5,000, so the tax starts on almost the first pound of every part-timer's wages. Alcohol duty up 3.66% from 1 February, taking draught beer duty to £19.45 per litre of pure alcohol. None of those are decisions a licensee gets a vote on. All of them land before the pub sells a single extra pint.
The one genuine relief on the horizon: business rates relief for eligible pubs in England rises from 15% to 35% in April 2027, worth about £1,100 a year to a typical venue. I've broken down who qualifies in the business rates relief guide. It helps. It is nowhere near the size of the cost rises it's supposed to offset, and the BBPA is still asking for proper rates reform, duty cuts and a VAT reduction on top.
The part of the closure story licensees can control
I won't pretend a stocktake fixes a tax bill. It doesn't. But there are two pubs in every closure statistic: the one that knew its numbers and ran out of road anyway, and the one that never saw the leak until the accountant did. My own liquor audits between December 2025 and July 2026 swung from £193 up to £756 down with no obvious change in trade. If I'd only counted quarterly, that £756 would have been three months old before I knew it existed.
When your costs are rising 4% a year by law, the wet margin is the lever you still hold. A pub running weekly counts knows its GP% while there's still time to fix it. A pub that finds out at the quarterly stocktake is reading history. I wrote up the fuller version of this argument in the margin lessons from 2026's pub closures, and if you want to see what your own variance is costing you, the GP profit leak calculator is free and takes about a minute.
Quick answers
How many pubs have closed in 2026 so far?
161 in the first quarter, on BBPA figures. That's the only quarter published so far. Around 2,400 jobs went with them, roughly half held by younger workers.
Is that worse than last year?
Yes. Q1 2025 saw 128 closures, so Q1 2026 is up 26%. The full year 2025 finished with 336 net closures.
Why are pubs closing?
Costs, mostly. Wages up 4.1% by law, employer NI at 15% from a £5,000 threshold, duty up 3.66%. The BBPA says trade itself is brisk. The money is going out the back door faster than it comes over the bar.
Will it slow down?
Nothing in the published numbers says so yet. The main scheduled help, rates relief rising to 35%, doesn't arrive until April 2027. I'll keep this page updated as each quarter's figures are released.
Sources
- BBPA Q1 2026 closure figures via The Morning Advertiser, 5 May 2026 — 161 closures, 26% rise on Q1 2025, 2,400 jobs, East Midlands regional figure, Emma McClarkin statement.
- Lumina Intelligence UK Pub & Bar Market Report 2026 via The Morning Advertiser, 28 July 2026 — ~7 net closures a week, 41,171 outlets.
- House of Commons Library, Pub Statistics (CBP-8591) — 13,600 pubs lost 2000 to 2019.
- GOV.UK, Alcohol Duty uprating — 3.66% RPI rise from 1 February 2026; draught beer duty £19.45 per litre of pure alcohol.
- GOV.UK — National Living Wage £12.71 from April 2026; employer National Insurance 15%, £5,000 threshold; business rates relief rising to 35% from April 2027.
- Author’s own liquor audit results, December 2025 to July 2026, wet-led site, Washington, Tyne and Wear.