Pub numbers in Milton Keynes have not moved since 2010, while Britain lost 15.3%

• Milton Keynes ended 2025 with the same 110 pubs it had in 2010, unchanged across fifteen years.

• Only 42 ranked councils matched or bettered that record, while 276 of them finished with fewer pubs.

• Every council bordering the city lost pubs, with Central Bedfordshire down 32.6% and Bedford down 27.3%.

New research has ranked Milton Keynes among 318 councils across Great Britain by the percentage of pubs lost since 2010.

The study, by sports betting & stats site The Punters Page, analysed Office for National Statistics counts of pubs and bars in 318 councils across Great Britain between 2010 and 2025.

How Milton Keynes compares with the rest of the South East

Milton Keynes has the same number of pubs it had in 2010, a record only Thanet bettered among the 57 South East councils in the ranking.

Woking leads the South East after losing 40.0% of its pubs, and Thanet comes last, having grown its pub count by 9.5%.

Across the South East, the pub count fell from 6,195 in 2010 to 5,120 in 2025, a fall of 17.4%.

How Milton Keynes compares with the rest of Britain

Milton Keynes sits 120th on a national list that runs from the biggest percentage fall in pubs to the biggest rise.

East Ayrshire and South Holland top the national ranking after losing 50.0% of their pubs.

Pub numbers have risen since 2010 in 26 of the 318 councils.

James Byrne, Head of Content at The Punters Page, commented on the findings:

"The local has long been where people gather to watch the football, the racing and the big fights together, and every closure takes that shared room away from a town or village. If your area still has a pub, the best way to keep it is to use it, from match days to quiz nights, as a busy pub is far harder to close than a quiet one."