Coventry’s Pubs Are Closing. How Many More Before We Act?

Coventry is not just losing pubs. We are watching the people trying to run them decide that the numbers no longer work.

Within weeks, The Aardvark on The Butts closed, the Town Wall Tavern on Bond Street handed its keys back, and now The Phoenix on Gosford Street has announced that it too will close.

There is another connection.

All three are linked to Stonegate, one of Britain’s largest pub companies.

Stonegate owns the Aardvark and Town Wall, while the Phoenix is part of Stonegate’s managed estate.

That does not prove Stonegate caused these closures.

But when three Coventry pubs connected to the same major pub company run into trouble within weeks of each other, residents are entitled to ask what is going on.

Coventry’s pubs are feeling the pressure

The Aardvark closed in July.

The Town Wall Tavern followed on 26 July.

Its operators were unusually clear about why they were leaving.

They said they had given everything they could to keep the pub going but could no longer continue under their agreement with Stonegate.

This was not Town Wall’s first recent closure.

The pub had already closed in 2024 before reopening under new operators in February 2025.

Less than eighteen months later, the keys were handed back again.

Stonegate said it intended both the Aardvark and Town Wall to reopen under new management.

They should therefore not yet be described as permanently lost pubs.

But repeatedly changing operators does not automatically mean a pub is healthy.

A building can remain a pub while the business operating inside it becomes increasingly difficult to sustain.

Now the Phoenix has announced its own closure through its official Facebook page.

Stonegate’s own website still lists the Gosford Street venue as part of its estate, and the company has also previously advertised the Phoenix as an opportunity for a new operator.

The circumstances are not identical.

We should not pretend they are.

But three prominent Coventry pubs linked to the same pub company facing closure or operator change in such a short period is a pattern worth paying attention to.

Why are pubs struggling?

Coventry and District CAMRA has pointed to higher employment costs, beer duty, VAT, reduced consumer spending and the pressures associated with tied-pub agreements.

These are not isolated Coventry problems.

They are pressures facing pubs across Britain.

Business rates changed again from April 2026.

The Government introduced permanently lower business-rates multipliers for qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure properties, alongside transitional support.

Eligible pubs and live-music venues are also receiving an additional 15% reduction in their business-rates bills during 2026/27.

In July, the Government announced a separate 20% cut to business-rates bills for pubs, clubs and eligible live-music venues from April 2027.

That support is welcome.

It also confirms something publicans have been saying for years.

The tax burden matters.

If pubs were comfortably absorbing these costs, governments would not now be introducing specific measures designed to ease the pressure.

But Restore Britain was calling for much deeper reform before these Coventry closures happened.

Restore Britain saw the problem coming

On 7 January 2026, Restore Britain published Restoring the British Pub.

It warned that business rates, 20% VAT, alcohol duties, rising National Insurance costs, high energy prices and regulation were putting increasing pressure on Britain’s pubs and hospitality sector.

Restore Britain proposed:

• cutting hospitality VAT to 12.5%;
• substantially reducing the business-rates burden on pubs;
• increasing draught-duty relief;
• raising the National Insurance threshold for hospitality workers;
• encouraging investment into failing and closed pubs;
• strengthening hospitality apprenticeships.

These policies address many of the same pressures now being identified by publicans and CAMRA.

VAT matters.

Business rates matter.

Employment taxes matter.

Beer duty matters.

Energy and supplier costs matter.

Customers also need enough disposable income to walk through the door.

A pub can be busy and still struggle if too much of every pound taken at the bar disappears before the operator makes a sustainable return.

Would Restore Britain’s policy have saved these pubs?

We cannot honestly say that.

We do not have the complete accounts of the Aardvark, Town Wall or Phoenix.

We do not know every rent payment, wage bill, energy contract or purchasing arrangement.

It would be wrong to take one closure and simply declare that a particular tax caused it.

But that does not mean policy is irrelevant.

Reducing VAT, business rates, employment costs and alcohol duties leaves more money inside the business.

For a successful pub, that creates room to invest.

For a marginal pub, it can be the difference between profit and loss.

For a struggling pub, it can provide the breathing space needed to survive.

Restore Britain cannot guarantee that every pub will stay open.

No serious political movement should pretend it can.

But its proposals would give publicans a better chance.

But Town Wall raises another question

The Town Wall operators did not simply blame taxation.

They specifically referred to their agreement with Stonegate.

That deserves attention because, on 15 July 2026, the statutory Pubs Code Adjudicator opened a formal investigation into Stonegate.

The regulator says it has reasonable grounds to suspect that Stonegate may have failed to comply with parts of the Pubs Code relating to information provided to tied tenants and prospective tenants.

The investigation covers matters including information about pub premises, maintenance and repairs, rent proposals, financial projections and whether prospective tenants were equipped to produce a sustainable business plan.

It covers Stonegate’s conduct between 15 July 2021 and 14 July 2026.

There is an important distinction.

No breach has been established.

The Pubs Code Adjudicator has explicitly said it has not yet reached a conclusion on whether Stonegate breached the Code.

The existence of that investigation does not prove Stonegate has done anything wrong in Coventry.

Nor does it prove that the matters being investigated caused the Aardvark, Town Wall or Phoenix closures.

But when a Coventry operator specifically says it can no longer continue under its Stonegate agreement, another Stonegate pub closes within days, and a third subsequently announces its closure, it is entirely reasonable to ask whether taxation is the whole story.

If taxation is part of the problem, government should reduce the burden.

If the relationship between pub companies and tenants or operators is part of the problem, that deserves examination too.

We should follow the evidence rather than decide the answer in advance.

Coventry needs its locals

A pub is not simply somewhere that sells alcohol.

A proper local employs people.

It supports breweries and suppliers.

It hosts darts teams, football supporters, quizzes, live music, charity events and community groups.

It is one of the increasingly few places where people of different generations and backgrounds regularly meet face-to-face.

Once those places disappear, rebuilding them is much harder.

The Aardvark may reopen.

The Town Wall may reopen.

We now need to see exactly what happens to the Phoenix.

But Coventry should not wait until another generation of pubs has disappeared before asking why so many operators are struggling to make them work.

Restore Britain has already set out a national programme to reduce the tax and regulatory pressure on pubs.

Here in Coventry, we should go further and establish what is actually happening locally.

How many pubs have closed?

How many reopened under another operator?

How many have disappeared permanently?

Which pub companies own them?

And what reasons are the people actually running them giving when they finally hand back the keys?

Those are questions Restore Britain Coventry will continue to investigate.

Coventry needs businesses that succeed.

But it also needs places where communities are formed and maintained.

A city that values its communities should make it easier to keep the local open—not easier to call last orders.

Sources: Restore Britain, Restoring the British Pub; Pubs Code Adjudicator; GOV.UK; Coventry and District CAMRA; Morning Advertiser; Stonegate Group; Phoenix Coventry official Facebook page.