Use ’em or lose ’em alert on pubs

COUNCIL leader Jim McMahon says the best way to protect the town’s pubs is “simply to use them.”

He spoke out after the council agreed to review the rapid pace of pub closures across the borough.

Fifty licences for bars and clubs across Oldham have been surrendered since January 2008, while others have already closed but yet been counted.

The leader blames high taxation and breweries pricing themselves out of the market for the rapid decline.

“Taxation is a large part of the issue here,” he said. “Successive governments have failed to address the impact of this on very low-margin sales.

“The Government froze the beer duty increase in this year’s budget but that measure completely missed the scale of the challenge.

“Breweries have to take a long, hard look in the mirror too. Some are pricing themselves out of the market. High rents and expensive ties on stock mean it is very difficult for a landlord to make a reasonable wage to live on.”