Here’s a very eloquent elegy on the decline of the British pub, written by the obituaries editor of The Economist. Funny how the elephant in the room is scarcely mentioned, though.
The current attitude towards pubs, with all the great and good flocking to “save” them, seems in many ways to be similar to that towards rural railways in the Beeching era - people become increasingly sentimental about them, but in practice use them less and less.
What is the elephant in the room? I originally assumed you were referring to the smoking ban, but that does get a mention.
ReplyDeleteThat'll teach me to jump to the end too quickly ;-(
ReplyDeleteStill only the one mention, though...
There has been a certain amount of what might be called "natural decline" due to people drinking at home, but most of the recent closures are smoking-ban related.
ReplyDeleteThis thing about the cost of drinking out is complete and utter cobblers. That was never a problem, and some of the most expensive bars that I know have survived (mostly because they have an above average level of punters seeking mates, which is one of the types of pubs that did fine).