Scotland & Wales Are Losing Pubs Faster Than the Rest of the UK

Pubs are closing right across the UK, but not at the same speed. A village in Perthshire and a market town in Kent might both lose their local, yet the bigger picture in each nation is different.

Homefords analysed the latest ONS business counts for all 12 UK regions, from 2010 to 2026. Two places stand out. Scotland has lost pubs faster than anywhere else since 2019. Wales has lost the biggest share since 2010.

This post looks at both, and at how they compare with the rest of the UK. For the UK-wide picture, see our post on the 7,330 pubs lost since 2010.

Scotland has lost 11% of its pubs since 2019

In 2019 Scotland had 2,855 pubs and bars. By March 2026 it had 2,540, a loss of 315. That’s the fastest fall of any region. In number it’s level with the South East, which lost 310, once ONS rounding is taken into account.

The decline isn’t new. Scotland’s pub count has only grown in two of the last 16 years. Its biggest single drop came in 2013, with 175 fewer pubs, followed by the March 2021 count, with 150 fewer.

The trade has been raising the alarm for a while. The Scottish Beer and Pub Association says one pub a week closed for good in Scotland in 2025, a closure rate 50% higher than England’s, as the Morning Advertiser reported. The same report highlighted UKHospitality Scotland’s warning that pub business rates bills could rise by 86%.

The closures haven’t slowed. The SBPA counted 62 Scottish pub closures in the first nine months of 2026, almost seven a month, according to The Scotsman. It’s now calling on both the UK and Scottish governments to use their Budgets to cut VAT and widen business rates relief.

Wales has lost more than a quarter of its pubs since 2010

Over the long run, Wales has the steepest decline anywhere in the UK. It had 2,720 pubs in 2010 and 2,005 in 2026, a fall of 26.3%. That’s more than one pub in four.

Since 2019 Wales has lost 185 pubs, a fall of 8.4%, second only to Scotland. The biggest single drop came in the March 2021 count, when Wales had 160 fewer pubs than a year earlier.

There are signs the pace may be easing. British Beer and Pub Association figures showed Wales was the only part of Britain to record a small net gain in pubs in the first three months of 2026, as reported by Rayo. One quarter doesn’t make a trend, but it’s worth watching.

Scotland and Wales over time

Business sites classed as pubs and bars (SIC 56302) and licensed restaurants (SIC 56101), March of each year.

How every region compares

Pub numbers fell in 11 of the 12 regions between 2019 and 2026. Here’s how they line up, from the fastest fall to the only rise.

London is the only region where pub numbers rose, up 2.1%. We look at why that stands out in our post on London’s pub numbers. Yorkshire and The Humber had the smallest fall, at 0.9%.

Restaurants are moving the other way

As pubs close, licensed restaurants are opening. Wales has the fastest restaurant growth of any region since 2019, up 16.3% from 1,380 to 1,605. So the balance between pubs and restaurants is shifting faster there than almost anywhere else. Our post on Wales leading UK restaurant growth has the full regional breakdown.

Scotland has already tipped over. It’s one of three regions where licensed restaurants outnumber pubs, alongside London and the South East, with 2,975 restaurants and 2,540 pubs in 2026. Wales still has more pubs, with 80 restaurants for every 100, but that gap is narrowing.

Why other pub counts look different

You might notice the trade bodies quote much higher pub totals than the figures here. The SBPA, for example, puts the number of pubs in Scotland at around 4,380.

The ONS register counts business sites registered for VAT or PAYE and classes each one by its main activity. A hotel bar or a food-led inn may sit in a different category, and ONS rounds every count to the nearest 5. The trend is what matters here, and on that the different sources agree. Scotland and Wales are losing pubs faster than most of the UK.

For interactive charts and a lookup for your own region, see our full research on restaurants now outnumbering pubs in the UK.

Source: Office for National Statistics, UK Business Counts (local units by industry), via Nomis. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Figures are rounded to the nearest 5 by ONS. Media enquiries: hello@homefords.co.uk