By Lilly. K. Drew
Written 30th June 2022. Last edited 12th October 2026.
As home to the Royal Navy, Portsmouth has a long history of passing sailors frequenting a host of local taverns. However, with the cost of the living crisis rearing its head, this island city too faces the wrath of skyrocketing taxes.
As part of the Morning Advertiser’s support for the ‘Long Live the Local’ campaign, we take a trip down to Portsmouth to investigate why the government should remove the red tape.
Boasting a generous twelve, Portsmouth raises the toast for the most pubs per square mile of any UK city. ‘Pompey’ locals are no stranger to a night at their favourite drinking hole, but with VAT, Beer Duty and business rates soaring, it has become increasingly less feasible as residents are forced to tighten their purse strings.
Speaking with MP Stephen Morgan of the Portsmouth South Constituency, a prominent supporter of the “Long Live the Local” campaign, he shared: “We know pubs in Portsmouth South alone generate about 2,500 jobs and contribute about £60 million to the local economy each year, so they are vital for our local economy and also our communities.” Evidently, the Labour MP is passionate about boosting the independent pubs that form the heart of the City.
“ I don’t think the government have done enough,” He said. “I don’t think they take seriously our country’s small businesses and independent businesses. I think they are the bedrock of our local economy and there’s more the government can do to support businesses. I think this government’s particularly anti-business and my party are doing what they can to support small businesses up and down the country.”
The United Kingdom is known for inventing IPA, or India Pale Ale. Additionally, a whopping seventy per cent of drinks purchased at pubs are beers, contributing to an incredible forty per cent of a bar’s overall turnover. However, over the last two decades, beer duties have increased by sixty per cent, which is one of the highest rates in Europe. Alarmingly, as a default, this rises every year as part of the Budget.
Reflecting on how the government tackled Covid-related challenges, duty relief on high-strength alcohol was reduced during the last budget. However, this was not mirrored by other alcoholic drinks which Stephen Morgan feels should be a priority.
Tucked away in the middle of Portsmouth’s city centre, close to the university, lies the appropriately named ‘The Dockyard‘ pub. I spoke with Mollie Gardiner, a bar supervisor for the venue. Pubs are considerably important as generations of people have been raised in those environments. Once with family members, and later with close friends. “I feel like other places around the world only have bars and restaurants, where in British culture we have pubs, so we can socialise without having to have a meal or having to have an expensive cocktail.”
Ms Gardiner highlighted the importance of profit management, and how this can affect the outlook of a pub’s workforce. The unstable nature of inflation can affect the motivation of returning customers.
She noted that the independence of local pubs has also been shown to take a hit. The intensive strain inflicted upon UK pubs demonstrated that employees strongly believe individual pubs and bars cannot produce the same amount of revenue compared to chain-based establishments.
Portsmouth local and pub enthusiast Mr Brendan Leeming expressed his concern for the degradation of traditional pub values, stating that “backstreet boozers should be maintained as much as possible, because traditionally they were the cornerstone of the community.” He expressed that the once-recognised unique nature of local pubs appears to be dying and quickly drowned out by “these franchised pubs” and “that they are just copied and pasted.”
He suggested that the strain of the living crisis has affected the drinking routines of regular customers. “Even at £5 a pint a round of drinks for two of you is £10. For £10 you can buy a pack of 24 and go and drink at someone’s house. It’s not the same.”
Launched in the summer of 2018, the ‘Long Live the Local’ campaign recognises the high number of UK pub closures and aims to remedy this. They seek investment for pubs and breweries, and are lobbying the Government to extend the lower VAT rate for food and drink sold in pubs, reduce Beer Duty and alcohol duty reforms, supporting beer as a lower- strength product, and reduce Business Rates on pubs.
Over the last 3.5 years, the campaign has acquired over 600,000 signatures and MPs have received 300,000 emails, resulting in three freezes on Beer duty. The British Beer and Pub Association backs the campaign.
MP Stephen Morgan has a big focus on supporting local, independent venues, hosting an annual ‘Support the Local’ awards. The MP appears to be so committed to local pubs that he holds his weekly constituency surgery in one, hosting a monthly ‘Pint with an MP’ in which he meets constituents to discuss the daily issues they face, while promoting a different pub each time.
The MP explained: “I want to see more inward investment into Portsmouth through the levelling up fund, to make sure that our high streets and our communities are the best they possibly can be.”
He shared that the Labour party “has a real clear offer to support small businesses. We want to see a reform of business rates. We want to make sure that bigger businesses pay a fairer share of taxation and smaller businesses are better supported by this government. The government did do a number of measures that I welcomed during the pandemic to support struggling businesses, but not enough in my view and that’s why I’ve been lobbying for greater support for small businesses, reform of business rates and also efforts to tackle struggling high streets.”
The Labour MP urges the public to lobby those that influence the country’s decisions, and promised to work alongside MPs that see the same value in local pubs as he does, so they “can continue to be independent, sustainable and be great places for people to get together to socialise and see loved ones.” Driving the point home, he said “I think we’ll all see more closures in due course unless the government take action to reform business rates.”
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