alt Hacker NewsNot a Brit - but I've been seeing "times get even worse for UK pubs, with yet more closing" stories for years now.
And the BBC seems torn between lambasting a corporation for screwing the little guys...and admitting that the whole works was a hopeless money-loser, with a mountain of debt.
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Pubs have been in decline for years, because people don't go / drink as much, and because of our starting position: this is a country where there are pubs everywhere. But Brewdog is a chain of pubs and a brewery – this is much larger than the standard story of "village supporting three pubs can now only support two".
As for the "torn" reporting, there's no contradiction – companies can go bust ethically or unethically. You don't have to screw your retail investors / fans. You just can. And they have.
Brewdog is pretty much a TGI Fridays that’s pretending to be edgy.
People very much don’t like their beers, the atmosphere feels fake, and there’s significantly better options in any major UK city.
It’s a shame they are closing and I feel for the employees, but nobody local really believes they are a respectable place, touristy really.
While UK nightlife/drinking/pubs like every other city in the world is slower since COVID, I still have many friends from around the world who come visit and can’t believe how busy our cities and nightlife are compared to their city back home (NYC, SF, LA, Berlin, Sydney to name a few).