A city centre pub has decided to stop showing live music on weekends after being affected by the cost of living crisis.
The Sociable Beer Company will still have music on a Friday but will no longer offer it on Saturdays and Sundays.
The pub came to Worcester seven years ago and had live music "right from the very beginning", but says it is now suffering from a lack of footfall at some of the gigs.
Keith Duddy, owner of The Sociable Beer Company said: "We have had live music on a Friday for the last seven years and it was very successful, so in the last couple of years we expanded to Saturdays and Sundays.
"We believe in paying musicians for what they do and so we had a budget of £2,000 per month.
"The gigs are always free to attend, however there has not been enough footfall to support the bands.
"We know that it is expensive for people to go out one or more days a week, but we hope that more people will come out on a Friday to watch the live bands, instead of splitting people between the three days.
The change will start from the beginning of May, however the pub will still host "Open Mics" on the first Sunday of every month.
Mr Duddy continued: "It's symptomatic of the industry, we are by no means unique.
"We are running at about average which is around ten per cent down and so something had to go.
"Larger chains may be able to make it work but unfortunately for us independents, it is a different story.
"If things pick up, if we have some nice weather in summer, then we will hopefully bring some back."
It's a tough time to be in the hospitality, with the bar industry being down 11 per cent year on year, being particularly bad in April, down 22 per cent.
Mr Duddy said: "We are a smallish venue but not that small, we are somewhere in-between Marrs bar and Paradiddles.
"However, the idea of three days of live music in the present economic climate is not justifiable.
"Since covid the industry has slowed down, but the real killer has been the cost of living crisis.
"It's unfortunate because music and beer go together like Ant and Dec, a classic combination."
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