Good news for pubs
Whenever my family and I venture out into the country on short breaks, my priority when booking the accommodation is the close proximity of a pub. This caused slight issues on our recent cycling trip, as the lovely Horse & Jockey in Manton, Rutland, was about 50 metres away from the Airbnb that I’d booked, whereas the nearest grocery store was about three miles away.
I’m clearly not alone in the desire to have a pub close at hand, because 36% of people would not put in an offer for a home if it was too far away from a pub, with 0.7 miles regarded as the perfect distance and one mile being a deal-breaker for many home-buyers, according to Zoopla.
Those drinking types in London are even less inclined to walk far, with as many as 17% of people believing a distance of more than 0.2 miles to the nearest pub would be a stretch too far. The countrywide picture shows the powerful pull of the pub as the survey found 42% of people across the UK believe the quality of the local pub is important when buying a home, a figure that rises to 48% for men.
As many as 36% of homeowners say they have previously visited a pub before or after a home viewing. No surprise there really, because on the TV programme Location, Location, Location, the homebuyers are invariably filmed in a pub for all the scenes outside the actual property viewings.
Despite this backdrop and largely universal love of the pub, the powers-that-be – government, landlords, property developers, local councils and assorted NIMBYs – have, over the years, conspired against the pub. That’s why we are in the dire scenario of pubs continuing to close at a rate of more than one per day.
Among those who visit their pub, 69% do so because they believe pubs are a reflection of the community. Clearly, having no pub in an area is a pretty poor reflection of the community. Maybe this is being increasingly (and not before time) recognised by people. The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) found 41% of people fear losing vital community spaces should their local pub shut its doors for the last time. There is a growing belief by these people that pubs are being dealt a poor hand – again and again. As much as 72% of the adult population feel the current business rates paid by pubs are unfair, according to the BBPA, and the Campaign for Real Ale found 61% of people believe the government should be doing more to protect the existence of community pubs.
For many people, they are not just community pubs, but the community manifest. As churches, post offices and shops have, over the years, closed in villages and towns around the UK, it is often the pub that is left as the last vestige of community in those locations. When people leave towns and cities and move to more rural locations, they are willing to give up many things, but the pub is one of those things that they do not want to lose. As we all know, circumstances and pressures have led to far too many closing. What was often the last pub in the village has all too often called last orders for the final time, and the last community asset for those local people has been lost.
It was heart-warming to read in Country Life magazine recently of evidence from its “Countryside Crusader” columnist of a revival in country pubs in Suffolk. The writer found that within an eight-mile radius in mid-Suffolk, a number of pubs have recently been reopened by locals not wanting to live in pub-less villages. In Framsden, with a population of 331, the Greyhound was reopened by locals as a community enterprise, while in Rendham, population 229, the White Horse was reopened by a couple of locals who bought the place. It’s a similar story in Debenham, with The Lion back trading after a 25-year hiatus, and the Ten Bells, four miles from Debenham, will reopen as a pub and general store.
Such positive news is not exclusive to the countryside, because there are green shoots sprouting up in London, with figures from the Office for National Statistics showing only ten fewer pubs trading in 2024 versus the previous year, and across the capital, 11 boroughs, including Westminster, Lambeth and Southwark, recorded increases in their pub numbers.
Sadly, the prognosis looks very clear for the near future – there will undoubtedly be more closures across the country as long as the government persists with its unjustifiably harsh treatment of the hospitality sector, and pubs are unfortunately in the eye of the storm. But at least various surveys are showing greater numbers of people are valuing having a local pub, so let’s hope their actions speak as loud as their words and they go out and support their nearby pubs by spending more time in them.
Glynn Davis, editor of Retail Insider
This piece was originally published on Propel Info where Glynn Davis writes a regular Friday opinion piece. Beer Insider would like to thank Propel for allowing the reproduction of this column.