Pub closures threaten English traditions
Posted by admin978 on November 22, 2012 · Leave a Comment
Among many lost pubs is The George in Hyde, near Manchester, which closed in 2009. This is the pub where the famous Martin Webster NF march was planned in 1977!
This month has seen yet further crisis in the pub industry, according to new reports by the BBC and the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).
Shockingly, a further CAMRA report states that since January 2010 more than two hundred pubs across Britain have been converted into supermarkets!
A historic Oldham pub dating from 1833, the Star Inn closed in 2005.
Eighteen pubs each week are currently closing, compared to a closure rate of twelve a week last year, and the government is making matters worse by continuing to increase beer taxes, forcing the price of a pint in pubs to increase by more than the rate of inflation. CAMRA’s chief executive Mike Benner said:
“Weak and misguided planning laws and the predatory acquisition of valued pub sites by large supermarket chains, coupled with the willingness of pub owners to cash-in and sell for development, are some of the biggest threats to the future of Britain’s social fabric.”
For example, there are now no pubs at all on the Moor Nook estate in Preston where the Heritage & Destiny office is located! H&D writers have to walk to a local church social club a mile away to get a pint!
The Lion pub on the Moor Nook estate in Preston closed in 2000.
Ian Saunders, a spokesman for CAMRA, told the BBC:
“I think what’s happening is people are looking to buy from supermarkets and drinking at home and ignoring their local boozer. We need to stop the price differential between supermarkets and the pubs increasing all the time, which at the moment it is.”
Click below to view the House of Commons debate on the beer duty escalator, or click here to sign the e-petition to save your pint.
