Economists view of pub closures.

[gillhalfpint]

Found this on scoopgen, and although long, makes interesting reading.

http://econ.st/e1Jda6

Gill

[Bucking Fastard]

Thanks for posting that article Gill,it was a very good read.I was shocked ,but not surprised,by the statement that "more than half the villages in Britain now have no pub at all".The authors point that there seems to be a clear trend towards home based isolation and away from community based engagement is well made,if a little worrying.

[RogerB]

Had a quick glance - looks quite interesting - I have printed it out for proper perusal in the pub tonight!

[arwkrite]

Many of the villages I know of have, during the last 20 odd years, grown in size with modern housing estates added. Despite the increase in population the villages have still lost their pubs, schools , shops and local garages. The changes in lifestyle of the population will have an important impact on a village community some of which may be traced back for over a thousand years.For most of this time the population were tied to their village unless economic conditions caused them to move away.In the last two hundred years travel became easier to the point that many villages are merely upmarket dormitory towns. The newcomers have different needs and values and have little loyalty to the village and the locals. Very often they move on as their employment dictates. The ties that gave reason for the village to exist are no longer there. The big farms would often employ up to twenty men, landed estates many more. Nowadays farms employ a farm manager and subcontract as and when needed. Those workers and their families are now gone. They were the people shown in old paintings and photos drinking outside the village pub at a time when a ploughmans lunch was just that and not the travesty it became on the pub menu.


Times are a changing and with it Society. Are we all a bunch of Luddites desperately trying to hold back change ? I do not mean that in any derogatory way. I know all here love pubs. So do I but I also love veteran cars, steam engines and watermills all of which have had their day with only a few left carrying out their original functions.
It is never easy being a traditionalist in times of change. I just hope I am long gone before the taxman finally causes the closure of the last pub.....Amen.

[aleandhearty]

Thanks for posting Gill. Didn't agree with all the points raised, but some of them really resonated:

'Most pubs retain a peculiarly English blend of socialising and privacy. Regulars prize maze-like or womb-like pubs, tiny rooms and dark corners; for hearths and fires, no matter what the season; for a sense of history in the layers of paper, clutter and paint; for an indefinable grubbiness and informality....but pubs, like homes, are not about fashion statements or public preening. By the same token, the building itself often has no importance. What matters is the atmosphere, that indefinable thing that no one can put a finger on, until some alteration kills it.'

I think it was Quinno who coined the phrase 'if a pub is good enough, people will come'. Despite all the gloom and doom, I still genuinely believe that.

[Quinno]

I think it was Quinno who coined the phrase 'if a pub is good enough, people will come'. Despite all the gloom and doom, I still genuinely believe that.

I hope it was me

Whilst it's a sweeping statement, the core of it is true - a well-maintained, well-run (by a long-term licensee/s), competitively-priced pub, with high standards of service, product quality and, most importantly, welcome, should in most instances survive, if not prosper (see the Nags Head in Reading, for example. A once grubby flea-pit that is now unrecognisable due to the implementation of the previous points).

Unfortunately, as the article points out, the barrier to achieving this are some pubcos (not all; Admiral, for example, are a pubco that in my experience actually do want their pubs to succeed as businesses) and taxation levels vis a vis off trade.

One stark fact, that we can't get away from, is the logical outcome of the above. If all urban pubs went 'good' that 2011, there simply wouldn't be enough people to drink in them. Rationalisation over the next few years is inevitable, unless there's a culture shift.

As for country pubs - well, those that can adapt (because they are allowed to) by taking on Post Office/local shop functions, mums-and-tots baby bounce sessions in the mornings - they should be OK. But how many can, or will be allowed to by Enterprise/Punch etc? Not many, I suspect. And there's the true tragedy - conurbations of 500 people or more, without a pub in reach.

[arwkrite]

"What matters is the atmosphere, that indefinable thing that no one can put a finger on, until some alteration kills it."

We can all think of instances where that has sadly happened.If the local population do not support their pub by using it then as a business it will go under. Sad but true.