London (Parliament News) – Heineken plans to invest £39m in reopening and renovating nearly 60 UK pubs, targeting suburban locations to attract remote workers and capitalize on changing consumer habits post-Covid.
Heineken is to expend £39m on reopening nearly 60 UK pubs and sprucing up “tired” locals in suburban locations in an effort to draw more consumers working from home.
How Will Heineken Attract Remote Workers to Pubs?
The firm, which has 2,400 pubs via its Star pubs and bars arm, intends to reopen 62 long-term platforms this year and elevate 612 outlets, with 94 of these earmarked for makeovers of approximately £200,000. It stated it would concentrate its main refurbishments on suburban pubs, turning them into “premium locals” to take benefit of the shift away from office work since the Covid crisis, as well as targeting people peeking to save money on travel by drinking near to home.
Will Heineken’s Strategy Transform UK Pub Culture?
The latest investment will develop an estimated 1,075 new jobs and widen each pub’s use, and comes amid signs of growing consumer confidence as inflation and the expense of living crisis ease. Brewers and pubs were compelled to close for months under pandemic conditions and since then the sector has encountered higher costs including energy bills and earnings at the same time as consumers have cut back on discretionary spending.
The number of pubs in the UK had fallen even before Covid hit, according to the British Beer and Pub Association. Stats from the industry body indicate a steady decline from 60,800 in 2000 to 47,200 in 2019. However, in recent weeks pub groups have revealed plans for fresh investment in a sign of continued confidence in the sector.
Tim Martin, the founder and chair of JD Wetherspoon, stated in March he had a list of 130 towns and cities where he desired to open a pub, as he announced an eightfold peak in pre-tax profits in the six months to January 2024.
Can Heineken’s Investment Combat Decline in UK Pub Numbers?
Greene King revealed last week that it would invest £40m in a new brewery in East Anglia.
Heineken UK, which is the world’s second-largest brewer, expressed its latest investment meant it would have reopened 156 long-term-closed pubs, including ones in Derbyshire, Yorkshire and Cumbria, between the start of 2023 and the end of 2024, which would decrease the number of closed bars in its estate to levels last seen before Covid. Most of its 2,400 pubs are leased out to small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Lawson Mountstevens, the managing director of Star Pubs, expressed people were now looking for “maximum value” from visits to their region and wanted good-quality food and drink as well as additional grounds to go out such as sports screenings. “Pubs have proved their enduring appeal after all the disruption of recent years. Star is on track to have the lowest number of closed pubs since 2019,” he said.