Despite the closures, Britain’s number of licensed premises held steady in the second quarter of 2026, with many of these shuttered venues swiftly reoccupied and the number of new openings in the second quarter only just short of the total closures.
There were 98,564 outlets at the end of June 2026, according to data from NIQ, powered by CGA intelligence, which it says is virtually identical to three months previously, and just 0.2% below the level of June 2025.
The quarter-on-quarter performance is a modest improvement on a 0.3% decline between January and March.
Hospitality operators faced numerous challenges over the second quarter, including patchy consumer confidence and sustained inflation in costs, which was exacerbated by conflict in the Middle East. These pressures contributed to the closure of 1,839 outlets between March and June, but 1,794 sites also opened in the same period.
NIQ’s Hospitality Market Monitor highlights significant churn in the bar sector. Of Britain’s total of 4,695 bars at the end of June 2026, 515 – around one in nine – had opened their doors within the past 12 months. In the second quarter alone, 191 bars launched – equivalent to nearly 15 per week.
Britain’s bar sector has now increased in size by 1.4% in the last year, and by 3.1% since the pre-Covid benchmark of March 2020, it reports.
While the sector as a whole has shrunk by 0.2% in the past 12 months the number of licensed premises in city centres has risen by 0.4%. Of the 20 British cities with the most outlets, 15 have been in net growth or flat. The fastest growing cities have been Liverpool (up 4.0%) and Brighton (up 2.2%).
All 20 cities still have a smaller number of outlets than they did before Covid, but some are now very close to that marker, it says.
“At a top line level it was a stable second quarter of 2026 for hospitality, but a flat number of outlets conceals a lot of changes and challenges beneath the surface,” says Karl Chessell, director - hospitality operators and food, EMEA at NIQ.
“Fast turnover is a concerning sign of the fragility of businesses, but it is also a welcome indicator of the confidence of entrepreneurs and investors. With inflation and low spending confidence set to persist, stability in numbers will be hard to sustain.
“While the new Prime Minister’s announcement of cuts to Business Rates for pub and clubs may prove a lifeline for some businesses on the edge, the sector still needs additional support to achieve long term stability.”