House of Commons bars see steady trade, but not enough to plug the hole in the budget or save Bellamy's, figures released by the parliamentary authorities have revealed.
The Strangers bar and Terrace bar took in £65,832 in the eight month period between April and December 2009. In the 2005/06 financial year they took £64,375.
And the bars saw a bumper year in 2008-09, raking in £74,760, their highest takings in five years.
But while those two bars have seen a steady increase in takings since 2005, Bellamy's bar has seen a dramatic fall in profits.
In 2005-06 the bar took £51,654, but this dropped to £32,480 in the 2008-09 period.
Punters may have been defecting from one watering hole to another within the estate, as Bellamy's £5,513 drop in earnings between 2007-08 and 2008-09 is matched by a £5,829 jump in takings in Strangers and the Terrace.
Overall revenue across the Commons bars has stayed roughly steady at around the £145,000 mark over the last five years.
The Commons said it did not record the net trading surplus or loss for each individual bar, but in 2008-09 the overall net cost incurred by the catering and retail directorate which runs the bars was some £6.1m.
The figures were revealed in a parliamentary answer to Tory MP Michael Fabricant, who has been peppering the Commons authorities with questions about the decision to turn Bellamy’s into a children's nursery.
According to the House of Commons Commission, the revenue from Bellamy's is insufficient to cover purchasing costs and the cost of staff employed directly by the bar.
However the Members Smoking Room only took £7,779 in during 2008-09, roughly £20 a day, a figure that was already down on the previous year's relatively meagre sum of £8,865
And the Pugin room took £30,993 over the same period, approximately the same amount as Bellamy's, although this is up marginally on the previous years £29,475 whereas Bellamy's has seen a downward trend.
Tills in the Commons bars have taken a total of £600,556 since the start of 2005, including £114,070 so far this financial year.
In an attempt to assuage public anger at what many see as the parliamentary gravy train, David Cameron has promised to end the subsidising of Commons bars where a pint of Fosters can cost as little as £2.10.
But some MPs have pointed out that it is not just parliamentarians with their £64,766 salary who use the pubs, but their low paid staff and other Commons employees.
