Landlady of Bertie Arms, in Uffington, near Stamford, joins #Save Britain’s Pubs action group

A pub landlady has joined an action group campaigning to secure the future of Britain’s ‘critically endangered’ locals.

Katie and James Genever have turned around the fortunes at the Bertie Arms, in Uffington, after taking on the village pub in 2017.

But a series of blows to the national hospitality industry, since the covid lockdowns from 2020, have left them uncertain about the future.

After trade was decimated by lockdowns, the industry has been further dented by post-covid staff shortages and the cost of living crisis which left pubs with spiralling overheads allied to a drop in custom.

The tipping point for Katie came with a ‘triple whammy’ of financial changes announced by the Government last year - namely the rise in employers’ national insurance contributions, increase in the National Living Wage, and the scrapping of business rates relief.

“I’m not worried about the Bertie Arms for the next few years, I don’t think we will be one of the 9,000 (to close) this year,” she said.

“It has now been a pub for 344 years and it's never been anything but a pub, but I think 350 years is probably too optimistic. I don't know if we'll do six years at this rate.”

She added: “With the national insurance contributions, I think this year we're going to have to find an extra £45,000 just to cover staff costs.

“And that is for a little village pub. I saw someone from Greene King and I think they said they're going to be £145 million down this year.”

But Katie is refusing to let the Bertie Arms disappear quietly into the night.

Spurred into action by measures introduced by the latest Budget, Katie called on the Government to support the ailing hospitality trade.

After posting an ‘open letter’ on Facebook, she was contacted by other like-minded publicans and joined the #Save Britain’s Pubs action group.

It is made up of publicans, pub-goers, brewers, writers and workers across the sector and is led by Dale Harvey.

Dale is a former pub landlord who has become a well-known face in promoting the local pubs and the struggles they face through his Great British Pub Crawl project. He has visited many pubs in the county.

To combat spiralling costs, the group wants the Government to consider cutting VAT to 10 per cent and review business rates.

They are also calling for changes to planning rules to stop pubs being sold off or converted, among other reforms, as well as a ‘national survey’ on the social value of pubs.

“Pubs aren’t just a place for serving beer, it’s a sense of community,” said Katie.

“We have so many customers for whom coming to the pub provides company and combats loneliness.

“We’re trying to make the general public aware that once these pubs have gone, they are gone forever. Once it's been sold as a house, it will never reopen as a pub.”

A petition has been launched with the aim of attracting the 100,000 signatures needed to spark a debate in parliament.

Beer mats have been produced with a QR code which drinkers can scan to take them to the petition.

It can be accessed by visiting https;//petition.parliament.uk/petitions/721825

An estimated 9,000 pubs are forecast to close in the next year and Katie believes many in the trade feel ‘unvalued and in fear of their livelihood’.

She wants to hear from, and join forces with, other publicans and get their message across.

“I really truly think that we’re at the top of a very steep cliff,” she said.

“As hospitality professionals we are not by nature pessimistic, over-dramatic, doom-mongers.

“The Great British Pub – the ‘thing’ that the whole world knows us for, is critically endangered.”