LOVE your LOCAL

Pubs have been at the heart of communities for centuries, but with two closing every day, it's time to use it or lose it

- CHRISTABEL SMITH

Along with queuing and salt and vinegar crisps, pubs are part of our national DNA. So much so that the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, closing them during the pandemic, expressed regret for 'taking away the ancient, inalienable right of free-born people' during his announcement, making the entitlement to a swift half sound so serious you'd imagine it's enshrined in the constitution.

Overnight, once-welcoming doors remained locked, and worse was to come as the pub trade's steady decline sharpened. Covid and cost-of-living crises combined to give many landlords a hangover no hair of the dog could fix. In 2024, more than 400 pubs in England and Wales called time, bringing the total number to below 39,000, compared to 69,000 in 1980*.

All hands to the pump