WHETHER they're becoming supermarkets, flats or just being boarded up, our local boozers are closing faster than you can say 'mine's a pint'.
The decline in Croydon's pub scene has been evident over a number of years and there are currently nine pubs closing without replacements in London every week.
And it's not just small back street pubs which are suffering the pinch of the recession and heavy beer taxes.
Last week, Thornton Heath landmark The Wheatsheaf closed its doors, and in recent years prominent South Croydon pubs The Swan and Sugar-loaf and The Red Deer shut their doors to become Tesco and Morrisons respectively.
These are just a handful of examples of a growing trend.
But with a renewed vigour in real ale and the drinks industry in rude health, why is the pub trade suffering so much?
Steve O'Connell, Greater London Assembly member and real ale drinker, wrote a report last year on how to save London's pubs.
The report, Keeping Local, details how pubs can be saved and made into 'community resources' and Cllr O'Connell believes the loss of pubs is "ripping a little bit of the soul out of communities".
"When my dad was young there were too many pubs," he said.
"They were on every street corner and that was unsustainable but the problem is the pendulum has swung too far the wrong way.
"There aren't so many places where people can gather and discuss community issues.
"The system is currently stacked against pubs. Unless we change the system, more will close."
In the north of the borough the suggestion is that changes in demographics have left establishments empty. The pub, it seems, may be a very British phenomenon.
Locals such as The White Horse, in Selhurst, and The Portmanor, in South Norwood, rely and thrive off matchday trade from Crystal Palace supporters.
But they have both had a change of management recently due to what former White Horse landlord Danny Foley described as being "squeezed out" by their pub companies and both pubs now face uncertain futures.
Cllr O'Connell added: "Property prices are so high, it's in the interest of the pub companies to run down the pubs and make it untenable for the manager to make a living.
"They are making life so difficult for the managers. They are charging high rates for the beer and not spending money on the property."
Planning permission is not currently required for pubs to be converted into supermarkets and yet another one, The Selhurst Arms, in Selhurst Road, is set to become a Co-op later this year.
A change in the planning law to make it impossible to change the use of a pub without planning permission is one of a number of strategies offered up by Cllr O'Connell to stop the rot.
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has also run a national campaign to change planning law so the class of use for a pub is different to those of shops or restaurants, which would offer them that extra protection.
Cllr O'Connell sees the future of pubs as community-run, citing The Hope in Carshalton, which was bought by its staff and customers when developers were circling to convert it into a restaurant and flats and is now a thriving real ale pub.
If a pub becomes officially listed as an 'asset of community value', this would mean its customers could have the right to bid before other developers.
Terry Hewitt, chairman of the Croydon branch of (CAMRA), said he finds the decline of many Croydon's pubs sad but, in some cases, inevitable.
He added: "Some of the pubs that are closing are not well run and don't get much custom.
"But, there is no way you can say that a pub like The Ship of Fools in West Croydon was not a thriving business."
Mr Hewitt said there is some hope for pubs despite challenging times ahead. "If you look at the small pubs that have opened up that specialise in beers in London and there has been a massive increase in little breweries.
"There's a certain community focus that is lost every time a pub closes."
PUBS in Croydon which have called time in recent years: Swan and Sugar-loaf, South Croydon The Red Deer, South Croydon The Alliance, South Norwood The Stag, Selsdon Half Moon, London Road Rising Sun, Broad Green The Crown, Boston Road. The Harp, Parsons Mead, The Victory, Thornton Heath The Canterbury Arms, Canterbury Road The Mitre, Canterbury Road The Woodman, South Croydon Leslie Arms, Addiscombe The Black Horse, Addiscombe The Star, Southbridge Road The Parchmore, Thornton Heath The Fountain Head, Thornton Heath Queen Victoria, Mitcham Road Newton Arms The Wheatsheaf, Thornton Heath Alma Tavern, Addiscombe The Portmanor (could reopen - future unclear) The Cunningham, New Addington The Wheelwrights Arms, Southbridge Road The Cricketers Arms, Southbridge Place The Propellor, Waddon The Ship of Fools, London Road The Gun Tavern, Church Street The Eagle, Tamworth Road Black Sheep Bar The Litten Tree, High Street, Croydon The Goat House, South Norwood The Grange, Norbury Prince of Wales, Parchmore Road Pitlake Arms, Waddon New Road The Good Companions, Sanderstead The Cartoon, London Road Duke of Clarence, South Norwood The Folly, South Croydon The Goose and Carrot, Wellesley Road The Cunningham, New Addington The Harp, West Croydon New Inn, Mitcham Road The Selhurst Arms, Selhurst Road The Woolpack, Gloucester Road, Selhurst The Nowhere Inn Particular, Sumner Road
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