Exclusive:Budget 2025: Rachel Reeves' constituency is one of worst in Yorkshire for pub closures

The British Beer and Pub Association (BPPA) has found that 37 pubs have closed in the market town of Pudsey since 2016 - that's one pub lost for every 3,000 people.

Now, with new analysis for The Yorkshire Post, it outlines a stern warning call across the wider region with 258 pubs closed and a further 260 at risk without "meaningful" reform.

Emma McClarkin, chief executive, warned that every pub closure leaves a hole in its community, serving as more than a business income that contributes to the economy.

"We all feel it when the pub closes," she said. "We are losing something more - that social connection. And when that disappears, we lose more than bricks and mortar. Not only is it a loss to the social fabric of communities but an intrinsic part of what brings it all together."

Findings from the BPPA, shared with this newspaper, outline pub closures for the four counties across the region.

West Yorkshire has the highest rate of loss, it finds, losing 7.5 per cent of its pubs with 125 calling last orders for the final time since 2016.

In South Yorkshire that sum topped 65, including 20 in both Rotherham and Sheffield, while East Yorkshire and the Riding suffered 35 closures. North Yorkshire lost 33.

The findings are conservative compared to analysis from Camra last year, which suggested sums at nearly double this rate and with one pub closed in Yorkshire every three days.

Now BPPA, a leading trade association representing pubs and breweries nationwide, calls on the Chancellor to back the sector with "meaningful" change in tomorrow's budget.

Ms McClarkin, citing previous survey findings, said 60 per cent of homebuyers would consider a 'good local' as a top priority when searching for a new home. For tourism and the visitor economy, meanwhile, one in three people would seek to visit a pub.

Such pubs are an "economic force multiplier", insisted Ms McClarkin, with the power to drive football to both grow the economy and regenerate high streets across the nation.

But this is a sector struggling with shrinking or even non-existent profit margins, squeezed by rising costs around rising minimum wage, national insurance, heating and high street bills.

A "one penny off a pint" gesture in last year's budget amounted to a 21 pence add-on in real terms, she added, with the cost of the average pint now tipping over £5 for the first time.

"The British pub is revered around the world, yet we are losing more than one a day at the moment," she added. "These are huge numbers.

"Making it harder to employ people is not good for business, and it's not good for pubs. We need to keep a pint affordable."

The BPPA, along with watching closely over business rates reform, is calling for cuts to beer duty and "eye-watering" employment costs, while simplifying the licensing system.

"Yorkshire is famous for many things - beer is one of them," said Ms McClarkin. "We need to make sure that warm welcome survives.

"Let us support the great British pub," she added. "They do so much, not just for economies but for communities.

"Let's not put more hurdles in front of these pubs. It's about making sure they can run as profitable businesses."