Pubs are a substantial part of hospitality energy demand. In England and Wales, public houses and pub restaurants used 4,155 GWh in 2019, while the wider group of pubs, pub-restaurants, bars and nightclubs used 4,735 GWh. The available figures also show why energy management matters operationally: heating, lighting and equipment are all significant modeled end uses, and recent trials recorded measurable reductions in pub energy use.
Contents
- Pub-sector energy scale
- Electricity and gas intensity
- Heating, cooling and auxiliary demand
- Lighting and equipment demand
- How pubs use floor space
- Energy-cost pressure
- Measured savings from energy controls
Pub-sector energy scale
The Non-Domestic Building Stock in England and Wales – Part 3: Hospitality reports 2019 energy use for hospitality buildings. Public houses and pub restaurants accounted for 4,155 GWh, equal to 32% of hospitality energy consumption. When bars and nightclubs are included, the broader public-house, pub-restaurant, bar and nightclub group reached 4,735 GWh.
A later view of the building stock is provided by the National Buildings Database: Understanding Great Britain’s non-domestic buildings. Its latest database summary, published in 2026, records 46,592 premises in the pubs, pub-restaurants, bars and nightclubs activity group. Those premises cover 18.67 million square metres of floorspace, with average floorspace of 405 m².
The same database group represents 18.8% of hospitality premises by count and 24.9% by floorspace. Its median total energy-use intensity is 222 kWh/m² per year. This is a useful benchmark for management discussions, but it describes a broad activity group rather than a prediction for an individual pub.
| Measure | Result | Coverage and period |
|---|---|---|
| Public houses and pub restaurants | 4,155 GWh | England and Wales, 2019 |
| Pubs, pub-restaurants, bars and nightclubs | 4,735 GWh | England and Wales, 2019 |
| Same group in phase-2 database | 4,556.27 GWh | Latest database summary, published 2026 |
| Premises in phase-2 database | 46,592 | Latest database summary, published 2026 |
| Median total energy-use intensity | 222 kWh/m²/year | Latest database summary, published 2026 |
The phase-2 summary reports 4,556.27 GWh and 30.2% of hospitality energy for pubs, pub-restaurants, bars and nightclubs. Because the sources use different datasets and reporting periods, the 2019 totals and the later database summary should be read as separate benchmarks, not as a calculated trend.
Electricity and gas intensity
The ND-NEED 2021 reports that hospitality buildings had the highest median electricity intensity among English and Welsh non-domestic building-use categories in 2019, at 187 kWh/m². Hospitality buildings recorded 9 TWh of total electricity consumption that year. They also had the highest median gas intensity, at 284 kWh/m².
More specific pub-sector figures appear in the hospitality building-stock report. For pubs, pub-restaurants, bars and nightclubs using non-electrical fuels, median electricity intensity was 127 kWh/m² in 2019. For all-electric premises in that same group, median electricity intensity was 136 kWh/m².
Within the public-house and pub-restaurant activity, median gas intensity was 164 kWh/m², while median all-electric intensity was 150 kWh/m². These values describe different fuel-use groups, so they should not be combined into one total or treated as like-for-like readings from one building.
For a separate international reference point, the current U.S. ENERGY STAR “What is Energy Use Intensity?” publication gives a national median bar/nightclub source EUI of 297 kBtu/ft² per year and a site EUI of 130.7 kBtu/ft² per year. It gives a median restaurant source EUI of 573.7 kBtu/ft² per year, a potentially relevant benchmark for pubs with substantial kitchens. These are U.S. national benchmarks, not measurements of UK pubs.
Heating, cooling and auxiliary demand
The hospitality report’s end-use numbers are modeled from EPC-linked hospitality records for 2019. They are not direct meter readings and may not represent every premises. For public houses and pub restaurants, average modeled heating demand was 215 kWh/m², compared with a median of 209 kWh/m².
The same records show average modeled cooling demand of 22 kWh/m² and median cooling demand of 11 kWh/m². Average modeled auxiliary demand was 19 kWh/m², while the median was 9 kWh/m². The difference between average and median values indicates that the modeled records include variation between properties; neither statistic is a guaranteed allowance for a particular site.
Across the broader pub, bar and nightclub group, average modeled heating demand was 212 kWh/m² and median modeled heating demand was 206 kWh/m². Average modeled cooling demand was 23 kWh/m², and median modeled cooling demand was 12 kWh/m². The broader group therefore has closely related modeled heating and cooling benchmarks, but its mix is not identical to the public-house/pub-restaurant activity.
For a bar manager, heating demand is especially important when reviewing the building envelope, operating hours and control settings because it is the largest of the listed modeled end uses. Cooling and auxiliary services are smaller in the reported averages, but they remain separate loads that can be tracked against opening hours and seasonal operation. The statistics support benchmarking; they do not identify which individual intervention caused a change.
Lighting and equipment demand
Lighting is another large modeled end use. For public houses and pub restaurants, average modeled lighting demand was 96 kWh/m² and the median was 88 kWh/m² in the EPC-linked 2019 records. Average modeled equipment demand was 73 kWh/m², with a median of 72 kWh/m².
Other hospitality categories provide context for the variation in energy-intensive service areas. Wine bars had median modeled lighting demand of 110 kWh/m², while restaurants had median modeled lighting demand of 105 kWh/m². Food courts had median modeled equipment demand of 134 kWh/m², and takeaway food outlets had median modeled equipment demand of 102 kWh/m². Wine bars had average modeled equipment demand of 83 kWh/m².
The ENERGY STAR Small Business Restaurant Factsheet, a benchmark published in 2014 and still supplied as a current factsheet, says a typical electric deep-fat fryer uses more than 18,000 kWh per year. The same factsheet states that restaurants use about five to seven times more energy per square foot than other commercial buildings. Those restaurant figures are not UK pub measurements, but they show why kitchen equipment deserves separate attention in food-led venues.
How pubs use floor space
The public-house and pub-restaurant floorspace profile in the 2019 EPC-linked records is distributed across customer areas, back-of-house functions and support spaces. Eating and drinking areas account for 40% of floorspace. Accommodation accounts for 13%, storage for 14%, circulation for 8%, and food and drink preparation for 8%.
Office and consulting space accounts for 3%, while toilet and washing space accounts for 6%. These reported shares do not sum to a complete floor-plan specification, so the figures are best used as listed category benchmarks rather than as a substitute for a measured survey.
| Floorspace category | Public houses and pub restaurants |
|---|---|
| Eating and drinking | 40% |
| Accommodation | 13% |
| Storage | 14% |
| Circulation | 8% |
| Food and drink preparation | 8% |
| Office and consulting | 3% |
| Toilet and washing | 6% |
The comparison categories are also informative. Restaurants allocate 43% of floorspace to eating and drinking, compared with 40% for public houses and pub restaurants. Wine bars allocate 47% to eating and drinking. These figures help explain why floor area alone does not fully describe energy demand: two venues with similar areas can have different proportions of kitchens, accommodation, storage and customer space.
Energy-cost pressure
The Office for National Statistics report on food and drink service firms records how energy prices affected UK hospitality businesses in October and November 2022. In October, 23% of UK hospitality businesses said energy prices were their principal concern. In November, the figure was 22%.
The food-and-drink-service category, which includes pubs, restaurants and cafes, reported higher concern levels: 39% cited energy prices as their main concern in October 2022, rising to 58% in November. In November, 41% expected to increase prices, and among firms considering price increases, 76% said energy costs were a factor.
These are reported survey observations for specific months, not current forecasts and not a measurement of every pub’s bill. They do, however, place energy expenditure in an operating context: energy costs were connected with pricing decisions and business concern during the period measured.
Measured savings from energy controls
The UK government report on an energy-saving tool describes a 12-month trial involving 90 hospitality businesses, reported in March 2026. The trial cut average energy bills by nearly £2,500 per business. Some participating businesses reduced overnight energy use by up to 66%.
The reported pub examples show the spread of outcomes. A Bromley pub cut energy use by 26% and saved £48 per week through the trial. A smaller pub in Caterham reduced overnight energy use by 66%, with reported annual savings above £1,500.
These results are observations from the named trial, not guaranteed savings or forecasts for every venue. They are most useful as evidence that overnight operation can be measured separately from full trading hours. For a bar-management review, the relevant comparison is between the site’s own baseline, its opening schedule and its recorded energy use, while keeping the measurement period and intervention clear.