RT News: 

A former brewery boss and Tory peer has blamed the closure of “many” British pubs on the rise of non-drinking Muslims communities. Lord Hodgson also said cut-price alcohol in supermarkets was a problem for the industry. Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbots told the House of Lords he feared the closure of pubs in “areas of Nottingham, Leicester, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham” is due to “the increase of the Muslim population who don’t drink.” The peer further claimed the industry was declining at an unprecedented rate.

“Twenty-five years ago, the company of which I was a director would have operated probably a dozen pubs in Kidderminster, the home of the carpet trade. The carpet trade has gone and there are three pubs left,” he said.

The rate of pub closures in the UK was found to have accelerated to 31 per week, the real ale group CAMRA said earlier this year, with 3 percent of pubs closing in the six months leading up to August.

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