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Recently Iwas stood outside Huddersfield Railway Station waiting for my Replacement BusService. I was eating much needed food from a nearby fast food outlet andcontemplating my next move. Other match-goers had gone home but I had over 50minutes to wait for my bus. We’d already been to a few of our post-matchregular spots and so I was contemplating somewhere new or different to pass thetime now. I stood inSt George’s Square, behind the statue of Harold Wilson, and pondered where Ishould waste my next hour. And pondered and pondered. After deliberation thatate into much of my allotted time, I walked down to the familiar setting of TheSportsman, realising that there wasn’t anywhere different to go at all.
But whilstI deliberated, I cast my eye over the currently scaffold-covered Georgehotel opposite the station; a place I had been in once with my Dad. It’s downstairspublic bar had stood as a firm and available option to match-goers for years,and yet I’d only entered once around 14 years ago. And it mademe realise, as a I skulked over to the familiar Sportsman setting, that the wondermentof pubs was decreasing by the day.
Pubs were oncean unexplored infinity. There were no limitations to the endless possibilitiesto seek out. Not knowing what every pub was like was once part of the charm.Not having the answers only grew the anticipation. Pubs were exciting becausethey remained unexplored. What's itlike inside? What beer does it serve? Is it busy? What kind of people go in?Would I be welcome? Unanswered questions, but an infinity in which to answerthose questions. If we don’t try it today then there’s always next time. Suddenlyinfinity isn’t infinite. People willbalk at this. Users of the phrase "Use 'em or lose 'em" willlaugh at the idiosliation of businesses that I've never put a penny towards. Atleast one person will be ready to say "Look at this fool - thinking thatbusinesses can survive on "the idea" and fantasy of aplace." That is the modern Internet. They're notwrong though. Ihave no right to complain about pub closures of local places that I neversupported myself. But I wantthem to be there; comforting reminders of my idyllic vision of the world, whereTaverns and Inns remain supreme; where every soap opera or drama still has acentral pub setting because they remain the central point of all communities. I also lovethe idea of them coming good. "If somebody with a bit of experience gothold of that place it *could* be brilliant." I say it all the time. Isay it about dozens of establishments. These phantom rich public house ownersstrangely never materialise in this fantasy world. Instead,the pubs are gone before I can even imagine their potential. They are convertedinto three houses before I've even had chance to ask my accountant if it couldbecome reality. That is thereality. When I movedto the area I now live in I walked by the two closest pubs a couple of times,wondering when I'd go in and see if I'd find a new established local. Within theyear - and before I'd ever made it over the threshold - they'd gone.Redeveloped. Never to be a public house again. After over a century of servingbeer, they were gone within the 12 months that I was aware that they had existed.And I'll never know them. I've no opinion of them. I've no stories to tell. “Thereused to be a pub here.” “Oh, what was it like?” …. And I don’t have an answer. It makes nosense to be sad, but this is what it feels like when celebrities die. There wasno effect on my day to day life when Prodigy of Mobb Deep or Terry Pratchett died- but I'll still be joining the social media masses in mourning. We are allowedto be sad at all losses. Equally Imiss those moments with my Dad, when he excitedly led me to the George Hotelbar so he could introduce me to somewhere new. Whether it was good or bad – it wasa first. Those moments were precious. The pub wasa bigger landscape that stretched beyond every horizon. Now it feels like thelast days of a zombie film, where only the main protagonists linger on. Thecharacters that weren't important at the start have long gone. But, beyondfiction, they were important, despite what James May says. I'll stillspend time daydreaming about pubs that I may never step foot in. The answer would be to use my time to explorethose remaining places before they are lost. But, as I stand outsideHuddersfield station contemplating my next move, I realise that the world isfull of fewer dreams now. There is no room in 2024 Britian to speculate orponder. I guessthat they were right - Use it or lose it. This new world doesn’t allowroom for wonderment. Pubs are not an infinite number anymore, but what doesremain is my sentimentality to the unknown. There arerumours that the George Hotel is set to return with a new downstairs bar area.If this is true then I can’t wait to try it – once.

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