Death of the pub, its impact on society.

[117 M34]

There are few industries that have undergone as much of a change as the pub trade in the last ten years. There are a number of factors to this:

Supermarkets
Ten years ago the price differential between a pub and your local Tesco was probably 2:1. I reckon it is now nearer 4:1. This is down in the main to the fact that supermarkets are not looking to make money on booze. It is recognised as a perfect product to have as a loss leader. This has meant that the large increases in duty, VAT etc over the last few years have been swallowed by the big supermarkets thus accentuating the price differential even further.

Smoking Ban
Having already posted on here my overall support for the smoking ban there can be no doubt it has spelled the end for many locals. When the ban first came in it was July and its full effects weren't felt for several months. In fact it was probably a full 18 months before smokers got pissed off with standing in the rain smoking.

Social Networking Sites
A massively underestimated factor especially among the 18-29 age bracket. Many student pubs have seen trade drop alarmingly in the last 5 years due in no small part to this.

Regulation
The pub sector is one of the most heavily regulated. Food safety, fire regs, licensing requirements are just the tip of the iceberg. This has added significant expense to already struggling businesses.

Pub Companies
A lot of the larger 'pubco's' operate primarily as property companies. The rents that are charged on many pubs make it impossible for people to operate at a profit or even to make a living wage.

2003 Licensing Act
There are changes afoot to the above which will make life a lot more difficult for pub operators. Residents groups are going to have a field day. This will finish off a lot of local boozers that are clinging on by their fingertips.


All these, and many other factors have impacted (and will continue to impact) on the numbers of local pubs (and let's not forget the demise of the social club) which has doubtless had a negative effect on the glue of local communities. It is very sad, and whilst inevitable in many instances, this decline can only have a negative influence on wider society and the way we interact with our fellow man.

So you are saying that someone would turn down the offer of a saturday night out in the pub with their mates to sit on facebook/twitter etc all night?
I don't believe that, and I am in that age bracket and use social network sites, obviously not when I can be in a pub though.

Probably not, but they would (and frequently do) turn down the offer a drink on a Monday, Tuesday etc. Pubs cannot survive on Saturday nights alone. Your use of that night as an example is indicative of the changing role pubs play in people's lives now.

Wherever you are, boarded up pubs are everywhere. That has to be (in part) because people like you don't frequent them as much as they used to. It's simple maths.

I'd agree with that then, I wouldn't go to the pub on a weekday night unless city were playing away and I wasn't going and then I would get 2 pints of coke so I would hardly keep the pubs going with the fiver I would spend.

 

[BimboBob]

So you are saying that someone would turn down the offer of a saturday night out in the pub with their mates to sit on facebook/twitter etc all night?
I don't believe that, and I am in that age bracket and use social network sites, obviously not when I can be in a pub though.

Probably not, but they would (and frequently do) turn down the offer a drink on a Monday, Tuesday etc. Pubs cannot survive on Saturday nights alone. Your use of that night as an example is indicative of the changing role pubs play in people's lives now.

Wherever you are, boarded up pubs are everywhere. That has to be (in part) because people like you don't frequent them as much as they used to. It's simple maths.

I'd agree with that then, I wouldn't go to the pub on a weekday night unless city were playing away and I wasn't going and then I would get 2 pints of coke so I would hardly keep the pubs going with the fiver I would spend.

STUDENT!

 

[mikey4]

I can remember playing football on a Sunday morning on playing fields with 10 pitches all full. Everyone of those teams ran from a pub, back to the pub after the game home or away and mix with the other team and have a few pints and a laugh.

There were 2 divisions with 10 teams in each. Only 2 pubs are left out of 20 and all this was within a few miles. Happy days never to return.

 

[jonmcfc]

My local sells carling for 2 pound a pint and trade s dying off okay carling not the est but it`s wet and does trick.IMO smoking ban killed pubs what was wrong with having tap room for smoking and snug for non smokers.

 

[BimboBob]

My local sells carling for 2 pound a pint and trade s dying off okay carling not the est but it`s wet and does trick.IMO smoking ban killed pubs what was wrong with having tap room for smoking and snug for non smokers.

Weirdly, in Belgium, the home of these laws, if a pub doesn't serve food you can smoke. This means that an Irish theme pub in the heart of Brussels main train station allows smoking.

Why we can't do this is beyond me.

 

[Josh Blue]

Alot of pubs at the weekend have a bad atmosphere, teenagers and young adults not mixing with the older generation and every seems ready and up for a fight. Or to glass some one from behind.

 

[peoffrey]

Alot of pubs at the weekend have a bad atmosphere, teenagers and young adults not mixing with the older generation and every seems ready and up for a fight. Or to glass some one from behind.

Maybe where you drink.

 

[BluePurgatory]

Was only discussing this the other day with some friends and then we started to reminisce what pubs were like when we were kids, Always remember walking past them and smelling the beer. You could never see through the windows as they were all made of frosted glass. The decline in pubs also started with the end of some brewers. Wilsons, Watneys and Chesters etc.

 

[Thenumber1blue]

More likely to be this reason: Pint of Peroni,glass of wine and lemonade,coke and 2 bags of crisps £12.75 at the pub near me,thats just ridiculous.Beautiful pub built in the hills but i'm not paying that again!

 

[southern muppet]

Pubs aren't dead at all, the market has just concentrated itself. More people likely to pack into a big chain pub in town that due to its purchasing power can sell beer at half the price, which leads to the demise of neighbourhood pubs. The bottom line is that's an economic inevitability I suppose. Can you try to preserve tradition and culture in the face of it being no longer economically viable? I think you can, by incentivising people, but not to that extent and on that scale.