Closing time for Perth’s pub culture?

Sep 9 2011 by Denis Brown, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

PERTH’S once thriving pub culture may be facing extinction, with the closure of yet another watering hole reflecting grim prospects for struggling landlords.

Formerly popular village local, the Scone Arms, closed last month and is now up for sale by owner Punch Taverns, with a price tag rumoured to be nudging half a million pounds.

However, the troubled Punch, selling off 2000 pubs across the UK, is understood to have paid around three quarters of a million for the premises in 2005 before the nation’s licensed trade went into freefall.

Closure of the 1807 established Scone Arms is the latest Fair City casualty succumbing to tougher trading conditions created by the credit crunch, higher taxes, smoking ban and discounted off-trade alcohol sales.

The bodycount of Perth pubs includes the Star Bar, Railway Tavern, St Leonards, The Clachan, Atholl Arms, The White Horse, The Kings Arms, Feus Hoose, The Gowrie Bar, Hal o’ the Wynd, The Friarton Inn, Plough Inn, Riverside Inn and, more recently, the Bridgend, which is understood to be reopening soon.

Despite offering patrons cheaper bar prices, various clubs have also bitten the dust – the Perth Memorial Club, Royal Army Service Corps Club, the Polish Club, Black Watch Club, the Celtic Supporters’ Club, St Johnstone Supporters Club on Dunkeld Road, Kinnoull Club and the Railway Club.

But evaporating trade has not only impacted on ‘old school’ establishments, with operations targeting younger patronage also feeling the pinch.

This week an estate agent was appointed by joint administrators of the Stirling-based Castle Inns Leisure Group to sell its portfolio, which includes Perth’s Sportsters bar and diner and City nightclub.

Administrators stepped in on July 8 and are running the venue until a buyer can be found.

In May last year, Castle boss Paul Smith pleaded with the Licensing Board to extend Perth’s recession-ravaged nightclubs’ licensing hours in an effort to boost flagging patronage.

He said nightclubs were facing a “critical” scenario, with one in eight of all nightclubs closing since June 2006.

Perth businessman and landlord of 13 pubs across Scotland, Brian MacDonald, told the PA that he believed even more Fair City pubs would be calling last orders.

“We’ll definitely see more shutting as many pubs are right on the breadline right now and barely covering costs, so it’s really just a matter of time,” he said.

Mr MacDonald, who operates the Grill Bar, said traditional bread and butter clientele, building trade workers, were no longer propping up bars.

“No one’s working in the building trade now, boys who were making £600 to £700 a week are now on the ‘brew’ and only getting a £50 giro, so that’s had a real impact on sales,” he said.

“And more and more owners are having to work behind the bar themselves as they can’t afford to hire staff.

“It’s always been a pretty tough industry and it certainly isn’t getting any easier.”

A Scone Arms local for 15 years said since Punch bought the pub six years ago, three different leaseholders had operated the venue, with the last team, brothers John and Robert Bain and his wife, Janice.

“Patronage only really started tapering off in the last seven years – the smoking ban didn’t help but I think cheap drink at supermarkets was the real nail in the coffin,” he said.

“I know leaseholders were paying £50,000 a year for the lease six years ago, which you’d imagine would have gone up, plus they had to buy beer from Punch, so it’s a lot of money to find before you make any profit.”

He said the Bains had toiled hard for three years to reboot patronage, with promotions including live bands, karaoke nights, family fun days and an appearance by a Robbie Williams lookalike.

“We even had a transgender group meeting in the lounge bar one Saturday night every month, some of whom had already had sex change operations, all very nice people who were popular with the locals,” he said.

“When Punch told Robert (Bain) they were selling the pub and gave him the option of being a sitting tenant, he was fed up with the whole thing, sitting there all day with no one coming in, so he just walked away.”

A spokeswoman for Punch – which has £63 billion net debt and 312 pubs in Scotland, including Perth’s Auld Hoose, Mallard Bar and Welcome Inn – said the Scone Arms could reopen short term under a new licensee.

“But at the moment it remains closed,” she said.

She said Punch conducted regular reviews of its pubs, often exploring options for less sustainable sites.

“Following such a review, a decision was taken to put the Scone Arms on the market,” she said.

“We recognise that this is a challenging time for the UK pub market and we are actively working to secure the future of the great British pub.’’