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  "path": "/story/26/02/17/1836238/britain-lost-14000-pubs-a-quarter-in-13-years?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-17T19:37:34.660Z",
  "site": "https://news.slashdot.org",
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  "textContent": "Britain has lost more than 14,000 pubs since 2009, a decline from roughly 54,000 registered public houses and bars to under 40,000 by 2022, according to a new analysis of UK business register data by data analyst Lauren Leek. The North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Midlands lost 25 to 30% of their stock; London saw the smallest decline. Leek trained a random forest model on 49,840 pubs and found spatial isolation -- how far a pub stood from its nearest neighbour -- was the single strongest predictor of closure. Median nearest-neighbour distance for surviving pubs is roughly 280 metres; for closed pubs, 640 metres. Each closure pushes remaining pubs further into isolation, a dynamic Leek calls a \"spatial death spiral.\" Much of that isolation traces to ownership. Stonegate, Britain's largest pub company and a holding of PE firm TDR Capital, carries over $4 billion in debt from its 2019 leveraged acquisition of Ei Group. PE-backed and overseas-owned companies now control roughly a quarter to a third of all British pubs.\n\n \n\nRead more of this story at Slashdot.",
  "title": "Britain Lost 14,000 Pubs, a Quarter, in 13 Years",
  "updatedAt": "2026-02-17T19:25:00.000Z"
}