Giles Watling, Member of Parliament for Clacton, supported the pub industry during a Westminster Hall debate ‘Taxation: Beer and Pubs’.
The debate took place on 31stOctober and with the eagerly anticipated Budget next month, Giles took the opportunity to raise the plight of the pub industry in Clacton.
During the debate, Giles made two interventions, firstly recognising the importance the pub industry has enabling communities to come together face to face rather than via social media. His second intervention recognised that pubs play a vital part in our tourism offering as it represents a significant part of the British way of life.
Giles said
“Pubs offer much more than just a place to go and have an ale. Pubs bring local communities together, are a source of employment, play a part of our heritage and since 2003 some 10,000 pubs have been lost across the country. I want to see villages and communities retaining their local pubs and I feel as a Government, we should do all we can to prevent more pubs going into decline.”