If it was just beer, or just the alcohol, pubs would have gone the way of the dodo many years ago.
Pubs are a social media for people to connect in a welcoming environment and share experiences. They have changed in the past 30, 40, 50 years as drinking has become more expensive and less fashionable, but the social aspects are still there. Failing pubs are the ones that fail to deliver social interaction.
Pubs that just going for price differentials tend to delay the inevitable. Wetherspoon being an exception because they deliver price and social interaction.
12 April at the pub will see conversations and not much telly watching.