Pubs struggling to pay bills are turning to increasingly desperate ways to save money and stay open.

The news comes as the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) calls for more government support in the forthcoming budget, otherwise 2,000 pubs could close.

At the Windsor Castle, near Stockport, licensee Joanne Farrell is vacuuming in the dark and lights candles to avoid using too much electricity. She says if people don’t use their pubs they will close for good and these special places at the heart of their communities will be lost forever.

Keris de Villiers, at the Pig & Whistle in Wandsworth, London said in 10 years of running the pub she has never found it so difficult to turn a profit.

She said: “We got through Covid, but the cost-of-living crisis is worse… costs on everything across our business from energy to ingredients have rocketed.”

Anthony Pender, from the historic Somers Town Coffee House in London, a pub with a special interest in serving ales and seafood, said: “In January my gas bill was  £4,800 and we had £1,600 government relief.

“Similar bills were generally around £800 prior to increases. Without relief and at full business rates we would lose money as a venue.”

BBPA chief executive Emma McClarkin said: “It is crucial the government shows in this budget that it understands the pressures the sector is facing and just how much our pubs and breweries mean to communities everywhere across the UK.

“We urgently need the chancellor to deliver a plan for sustainable growth with fair, modernised tax rates and a focus on skills and training needed to ensure pubs and breweries can thrive.

“After almost three years of extremely tough trading conditions due to lockdowns, an energy crisis, supply chain disruptions and more, now is a make-or-break moment to save our locals and breweries from failure now in the years to come, we need the Government to act now or risk losing something very special forever.”

The BBPA’s call comes as data from Oxford Economics estimates on-trade beer sales will decline by nine per cent  in 2023/4. This equates to a million fewer barrels of beer sold (288m pints) and 25,000 potential job losses in pubs and the wider industry.

CAMRA is urging people to campaign to save their pub. CAMRA’s one-minute lobbying tool matches people with their MP and gives them a template email, making it easy for people to join the campaign to save their locals. The tool is available at: https://camra.e-activist.com/page/121106/action/1