{"id":482751,"date":"2026-03-18T20:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T20:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/482751\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T20:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T20:16:13","slug":"greene-king-at-risk-of-shutting-down-150-locations-amid-perfect-storm-of-rising-inflation-and-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/482751\/","title":{"rendered":"Greene King at risk of shutting down 150 locations amid &#8216;perfect storm&#8217; of rising inflation and taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">Some 150 pubs owned by the brewery giant Greene King are understood to be at risk of closure in another blow to Britain&#8217;s high streets.<\/p>\n<p>Greene King has announced plans to offload dozens of pubs onto the property market while converting another 150 venues into tenanted pubs.<\/p>\n<p>As a result of this, hundreds of sites currently managed by the company will either be sold off or given to independent landlords<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, Greene King Pubs managing director Zoe Bowley is stepping down from her position, The Sun reports.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"1295b\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"23bb5558b3314eb1d4c6eed61f7d5a9f\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%201024%20683'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/greene-king.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" alt=\"Greene King\"\/><\/p>\n<p>150 Greene King pubs are at risk of closure<\/p>\n<p> | GETTY<\/p>\n<p>This latest departure from the firm comes as chief executive Nick Mackenzie has slammed the &#8220;perfect storm&#8221; of rising inflation and employment costs in recent months.<\/p>\n<p>With this move, around half of the impacted locations will be transitioned into its &#8220;Pub Partners&#8221; division as leased or franchise venues, while the other 150 are being evaluated for a potential sale over the medium-term.<\/p>\n<p>These pubs will be placed into a new and separate business enterprise, which will be managed under a simplified model during the transition.<\/p>\n<p>Concerningly, under two per cent of Greene King&#8217;s estate have been earmarked for immediate closure.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"d9fdc\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"db58a9b54d0abb2032a8afd0741b8e97\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%202120%201414'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/pints.jpg\" width=\"2120\" height=\"1414\" alt=\"Pints\"\/>Pubgoers can start their New Year&#8217;s off with pints of Worthington&#8217;s beer available for just 99p | GETTY<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"3cbed\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"9d119a82376083281f6f03b5a90f2ee8\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%201024%20683'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/brewdog.jpg\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" alt=\"BrewDog\"\/>BrewDog will shut its doors on Monday | GETTY<\/p>\n<p>Greene King&#8217;s latest move comes after Brewdog collapsed into administration in March 2026, after years of losses and failed to find a buyer for the whole business.<\/p>\n<p>US firm Tilray Brands has purchased the pub chain&#8217;s core assets for about \u00a333million, which is a fraction of its former \u00a31billion valuation.<\/p>\n<p> As a result, 38 bars have been shut immediately, and around 484 jobs were lost, while only a smaller chunk of the business survived.<\/p>\n<p>Chancellor Rachel Reeves&#8217;s decision to raise National Insurance contribution rates for employers and the National Living Wage has provoked the ire of publicans, who have cited the higher cost of doing business.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"15bf1\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"3d62d067596a3f13a6b9f83992965b53\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%201600%20900'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773864973_781_rachel-reeves.jpg\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" alt=\"Rachel Reeves\"\/>Rachel Reeves is attempting to bolster the UK economy  | RACHEL REEVES \/ LINKEDIN <\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, Ms Reeves unveiled a cost of living support package for pubs, relieving the pressure placed on owners by business rates and licensing reform.<\/p>\n<p>Under these reforms, pubs will get a 15 per cent cut to new business rates bills from April, followed by a two-year real-terms freeze, as well as a review into the method used to value them for business rates. <\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, Labour has announced a new High Street Strategy to help support retail, leisure, and hospitality businesses across communities.<\/p>\n<p>In January, the Chancellor said: &#8220;If we\u2019re going to restore the pride in our communities, we need our pubs and our high streets to thrive. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We\u2019re backing British pubs with additional support, and our new High Streets Strategy will help tackle the long-term challenges that our much-loved retail, leisure, and hospitality businesses have faced. Thriving local businesses, bustling high streets and pride restored in our communities \u2013 that\u2019s what this Government is delivering.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some 150 pubs owned by the brewery giant Greene King are understood to be at risk of closure&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,2222,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-482751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-money","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}