Speaking to the Landlord of the local last night the conversation turns to how hard it is for pubs nowadays. I used to be in the trade myself, and I’ve always been a fan of drinking and pubs.
Small businesses under Labour have not thrived and 40 pubs a week closing is not only a national disgrace, but actually, a national emergency.
Let us not forget the sterling work pubs actually did for us as a society. For a start, it’s where we used to meet our neighbours, both strangers to the community and the best of friends. It’s where the young got to know the old. Where men got to know women. And where songs and laughter and joyful shouts from casual sex rang out…If the English are famous for anything around the world it is our drinking culture and the pub, the informal gathering place, part of our national make-up. It makes Britain Britain.
Okay, maybe that’s a bit of dewy-eyed nostalgia. However, that the pub played and still plays an integral role in the community surely is not up for question.
Unfortunately with the VAT increase we can expect a s***load more to close. As the landlord last night said, “It’s not just the two and a half percent – it’s the two and a half percent on the lights, on the heating, on deliveries, on the gas for the beer, etcetera etcetera etcetera…I tell you mate, after this I’m going to have to put up the beer about 25 – 30p per pint. How many people around here are going to stomach that.”
That’s an easy question to answer. Not many. People don’t have the money to put over the bar. Drugs, and very badly cut one’s at that (when will the Government-any f***ing Government grow up about Drugs- if you’re looking to Canada for policy, then try Vancouver for Drug Policy!),
Drugs are the order of the day. They are the cheaper alternative to booze, and this act’ll make them cheaper still.
As I speak to my new friend, the Barkeep - you see I’m new to the neighbourhood and the pub still seems the best way to get to know people - I find it politic to not mention that price increases on the actual beer itself have been more than hinted at in the papers every day for the last fortnight. It would only gild the lilly and I don’t like to kick a man when he’s down.






