The cost-of-living crisis has spurred a pub chain to roll out a 'work and play' package that will tempt workers to ditch working from home. Young's hopes its offer, first run in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, will help struggling Brits to keep down energy consumption and bills.
The deal involves customers taking up working space in a Young's pub plus lunch and unlimited tea and coffee, all for £15 a day. As reported by Mirror, the WFP scheme which sees workers swap their desks at home for a more community-based working environment, includes the use of power sockets and quiet areas. There is also the option of gin and tonic or pint at the end of your shift.
First launched in 2020, the scheme has now been rolled out to a total 185 Young's pubs amid rising energy bills for office workers who now find themselves working from home. As well as keeping their electricity usage down, some 'work from pub' customers also say they prefer the more communal atmosphere of a pub.
Jen, an education copywriter using the Cutty Sark pub in Greenwich, said she even preferred the cosy atmosphere of the 200-year-old premises to the office, telling The Guardian: "It definitely beats the water cooler". It follows a number of similar offers by pubs in the UK as many struggle to stay afloat following the combined impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, the energy crisis, and the cost of living.
Alarming research by The Morning Advertiser earlier this year said as many as seven in ten pubs could shut for good this winter because of rocketing energy bills. The survey found over 65 per cent of pub and bar operators have seen their utility costs more than double.
Of those, 30 per cent reported a jump of 200 per cent and eight per cent increases of more than 500 per cent. Emma McClarkin, chief executive of industry body the British Beer and Pub Association, said: “This rise in energy costs will cause more damage to our industry than the pandemic did if nothing is done in the next few weeks.
"Consumers will now be thinking even more carefully about where they spend their money. There are pubs that weathered the storm of the past two years that now face closure because of rocketing energy bills for both them and their customers.”
