Mitchells & Butlers head Phil Urban says the social media habits of younger patrons, as well as the loss of trade to home delivery apps, has inevitably hit pubcos in their late-night revenues. The youth are not like they used to be.

The head of one of the UK’s largest pub companies has acknowledged how the changing social habits of GenZ’s has hit the night-time economy’s bottom-line. 

Speaking to the PA news agency last week, CEO Phil Urban of Mitchells & Butlers, which owns chains All Bar One, Toby Carvery and Harvester, said: “The toughest part of the market right now is late night.” 

“We’re certainly not exposed like pure, late-night operators are, so we’re quite thankful for that,” he continued. “I think social media means that you don’t have to go out late and stay out in order to stay in touch with your friends.” 

The latest retail data bears Urban’s argument out. The home delivery sector continues to grow apace nationally at a rate of nearly 8 per cent year-on-year, a trajectory of growth which will see it represent over 2 per cent of all national GDP by 2029. Meanwhile, nightclubs have been disappearing at an alarming rate: with nearly a third having been shuttered permanently since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Urban has said that the convenience of home delivery has directly impacted his company’s revenues.

“People are often meeting beforehand to have something to eat, having a few drinks at home, before going out,” he remarked, adding that for this very reason, within its portfolio, M&B’s late-night-positioned Irish pub brand O’Neills was “probably having the toughest time.”