Soaring costs lead to the closure of local Northfleet pub

KentOnline / KMTV

The Y-ee Old Leather Bottle has been described as the heart of the community, offering a venue for local musicians and sports leagues.   But the couple say ever-increasing rent and a reduction in regular customers have pushed them to the brink of bankruptcy.   Our reporter Chloe Brewster headed down to the pub to find out more.

Transcript

00:00Pubs across the nation have been dealing with a pint full of issues in recent years.

00:04With the sudden loss of customers over the Covid pandemic, increasing rents,

00:08changes in customer lifestyle and the cost of living,

00:11keeping the drinks pouring has become increasingly difficult.

00:14I'm here at the Ye Olde Leather Bottle in Norfleet in Gravesend.

00:18The owners here have been running the pub for 16 years but are closing soon due to financial

00:23pressures.

00:24Val and Janine Buzatu have been involved with the Leather Bottle in Norfleet since 2009.

00:29They worked in a variety of roles before it was sold to pub company The Stonegate Group,

00:33with the couple officially taking on the licence in 2020.

00:36We love it. It's been a home for the last 16 years and it's just a shame that

00:41we've had to say goodbye. Rent here is diabolical for the footfall we get here.

00:46We don't even make the rent each week. It's ridiculous. We've had our savings.

00:52We've used all our own savings to keep these doors open.

00:55While the Leather Bottle is set to reopen with new owners,

00:58the national picture for pubs is pretty bleak. More than 14,000 pubs in the UK have shut in the

01:03past 10 years and with the average price for beer nearly doubling in the same time frame,

01:07it is no wonder more and more of us are choosing to stay home.

01:10It's very sad when you see like old people coming in and they just like order one sandwich and they

01:15split it between them just because they still want the social life, you know, they still want to

01:20come out. But you can see that the cost of living has just been, you know, in areas like this,

01:25probably they've been affected even more because they're close to London, you know,

01:28flats rents, they're going up or, you know, houses rents, they're going up and so on. And people,

01:33they can't afford to literally go out and turn the gas on and electric all the time.

01:38Stephen has been meeting friends at the Leather Bottle for years.

01:40If you look at it, most people do come in the pub. I mean, I've always had a good living,

01:44so like, yeah, price-wise, it doesn't really fix it. But there are people who just can't afford to drink in it.

01:48You know, come out and pay a fiver for a pint. You know, they can't do it. They're not getting

01:52the money for it. I'm hoping it's not going to end here. I'm still, obviously, I've heard that

01:57it's going to open on Friday the day after which new people will take it over. But if they can do

02:02anything better than what these two did, they're all well and good. A spokesperson for pub operator

02:08Stonegate Group told us that new management will be moving into the establishment on Friday.

02:12They said they'd like to thank Janine and Val for their hard work running the pub over the years.

02:17Janine and Val, while gutted, say they're looking forward to a new life in Norfolk,

02:21far from the pub that brought them so much joy. Chloe Brewster for KMTV in Northfleet.

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