Save the Great British Pub

By Bill Dewison

Almost 6 pubs a day are closing every week and the Conservative Party have decided that it is high time that the Labour government should do something about it. Jeremy Hunt, the shadow culture secretary, is the figure heading a campaign to ‘Save the Great British Pub‘ by petitioning Labour to cut the tax on beer. It urges them to support local pubs as they are vital community hubs. The Conservatives have identified the issue of the pubs closing, but in their rush to get behind the issue, they have totally missed the real reason pubs are closing; the smoking ban.

Quite why the smoking ban would cause almost 6 pubs a day to close is a mystery. Prior to the 2007 ban we were greeted with minister after minister telling us that it was what the majority of people wanted. The majority couldn’t enjoy pubs because the minority smoked, causing an unpleasant atmosphere and a gross risk to public health. With the ban in place, thousands of non-smokers would flock to their local public houses, able to enjoy a quiet pint in a relaxed environment and socialise without the risks of lung cancer with every breath they took. By rights, no matter how much a pint of beer is, the pubs should be thriving shouldn’t they?

But it didn’t take long to realise that the majority didn’t really want to visit the Great British pub once the ban was in place. My local Labour club was a prime example. It went from being a fun night out with lively conversation, pointless arguments and enjoying the company of people I wouldn’t meet anywhere else to a place that had all the life of a Dodo. Half a dozen die-hard members sit in the middle of the club with their half pints of mild whilst the landlady tries to entice new people in with a ‘hotpot night’. Outside the front entrance you might find another couple of members huddled together around the newly installed wall-mounted ashtray. Not exactly a wild night out.

Where did all the people go? They’re not in the pub next to the bridge, they can’t be, it is scheduled for demolition in a few weeks. I don’t need to bother walking to the other side of the bridge because the landlord of that pub was in the local paper the week before. He’d listened to what his customers wanted and allowed people to carry on smoking in his pub, been given a huge fine and now he’s closed the doors for good. In fact, the only busy pubs I could find after the smoking ban were either in the town centre where the average age of the clientele appears to be 14 years old or the ‘family’ pub near the park. If I wanted to listen to screaming kids, my mother-in-law wouldn’t need to baby-sit: my wife and I could have stayed home. And if I’d wanted to watch someone chomping on a mixed grill with decidedly dodgy salad on the side, I’d have taken my wife to a restaurant.

What the Conservative Party are missing with their campaign is that ‘The Great British Pub’ has already gone. The licensed premises that are closing haven’t been hit by the price of beer; they have been hit by a lack of custom. Those customers now go to the supermarket, buy a crate of cheap beer and stay at home. They don’t socialise like they used to and, ironically, they haven’t quit smoking.