British pub-goers are being encouraged to drink 124 pints (around 58 litres) of beer to save their economy.
There’s more than one way to be a hero. While all of its industries have taken hits during the pandemic, the UK’s pub sector has been severely impacted.
Business closures have seen pubs grind to a halt with experts at UK-based finance company, Company Debt, stating “that the UK’s food and beverage industry lost at least £25.66bn [$46.62 billion aud]” over the course of the pandemic.
“More than 2500 [pubs] have gone under during the last year,” the company also says.
Inspired to delve further into this issue, researchers applied the loss to the country’s population to see what $46.62 billion would look like if it were spent at the 40,000 pubs and bars that are currently struggling to remain open.
“We came up with a figure of 124 per pints per adult, based on a figure of 52 million adults in the UK,” the company’s website says.
This would be the equivalent of drinking 58 litres of beer per person. While it’s certainly an excessive amount of food and alcohol, it’s an announcement that many in the sector welcome.
According to a finance expert, everyone needs to drink 124 pints or 122 glasses of wine (not all in one go) to help keep their pubs afloat and get the industry back to pre-pandemic income levels 😲
Brits: pic.twitter.com/irYVjcuW6e
— ODDSbible (@ODDSbible) May 14, 2021
“Pubs will need additional financial support for years if they are to recover from this,” says pub owner and campaigner at the Forum for British Pubs, Dave Mountford.
“Many pubs will be reopening with a huge amount of debt. They took bounce-back loans but this industry hasn’t bounced back and we don’t know if drinkers will even return to wet-pubs.”
Babe are you okay you haven’t touched your 124 saving the economy pints pic.twitter.com/CdyoBrfqHM
— Saz (@sarahlostctrl) May 14, 2021
To encourage patrons to return, “Your Local Pub Needs You” posters have been created and hung up all over the UK.
Showcasing a moustached man in a military uniform pointing to the viewer, the posters thank patrons for “doing … [their] bit!” and breakdown exactly what patrons need to do to save the economy.
Apart from sharing Company Debt’s research, the posters also state that consuming “122 glasses of wine or 40 roast dinners or 976 packs of crisps” will also be enough to keep the pubs afloat.
While the UK is currently still under COVID-19 restrictions, the Bank of England’s chief economist, Andy Haldane, has described the national economy as a “coiled spring”.
UK citizens are estimated to have saved £192 billion (approximately AUD 349 million) since the UK’s quarantine rules came into effect on March 23 last year. According to Haldane, this could “mean two pub, cinema or restaurant visits a week rather than one”.
