Coffee Shops Booming Whilst Pubs in Brighton are Falling

“We now spend more on coffee in a year than we do on our energy bills – and as the price of beans rises, we respond by becoming ever fussier about our drinks.” - The Independent newspaper claims.

Coffee Shops in Brighton 

Across Britain in the past year there were 245 new Costa Coffees, 160 Starbucks, 83 Caffe Neros and 78 openings by smaller chains, according to research by consultants Allegra Strategies. Overall, 566 branded coffee shops were launched, increasing the total by 25 per cent to 2,804.

So why pubs are struggling to make the last orders call, coffee shops are booming. In 1998, there were 61,000 pubs compared with 57,200 this April, a loss of 380 a year.

The difference between pubs and coffee shops are that coffee shops are lot more quant, they’ve also increased in terms of being a social hot spot.

“In a coffee shop you have a convivial atmosphere without the alcohol or the rowdiness. I would not go to the pub for a coffee, I would go for a pint," says Kavanagh.

He also believes coffee shops have been boosted by people shopping more online. Instead of spending their Saturdays trawling the shops, Brits are meeting up with friends at their local cafe.

Pubs in Brighton

In comparison, the number of pubs in Britain has been in steep decline for a number of years. ‘The Campaign for Real Ale’ says British pubs are closing at the rate of 31 a week, although many are now fighting back by improved food and by serving breakfast and coffee throughout the day.

The one Pub based company that have fully sussed it is J D Wetherspoon. Wetherspoons was founded in 1979 with over 900 pubs around Britain, including 2 pubs in Brighton. It claims to be "the only large pub firm which opens all its pubs early in the morning", serving breakfast and coffee as well as a full food menu into the evening.

Pubs claim that they are losing their business to Wetherspoon a lot more than they are losing it to coffee shops...  "I have lost 50 per cent of my business to Wetherspoon – coffee shops haven't affected it all," says pub owner of the Corner House Bar, Omar Tahiri.

The customers at the bar say that people are more likely to drink alcohol at home whereas they will go out for a well-made coffee.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1078435/Coffee-shops-boom-consumers-refuse-daily-brew-despite-credit-crunch.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/leisure/11084328/Why-coffee-shops-are-replacing-pubs-in-Britain.html
http://www.shepherdanddogpub.co.uk/
http://callusfirst.uk.com/listing/shepherd-dog-pub/