IT DOESN'T seem a week goes by without the Advertiser reporting on the demise of yet another Croydon pub.
The latest to face its last orders is The Wheatsheaf in Thornton Heath, added to a rollcall including The Ship of Fools, The Red Deer, The Selhurst Arms, and countless others to fall by the wayside in recent times.
Many seem to end up being converted into supermarkets, something of a fitting irony bearing in mind such chain stores – with their cheap deals – are blamed by many for the death of the traditional boozer.
Other factors? The smoking ban, taxes pushing up the price of alcohol, a generational shift in the way we socialise, stricter ID checks stopping underage drinkers getting their first taste of the nectar at a young age –
all of these things probably contribute.
What can be done about this? Or, perhaps more to the point, should anything be done about it?
The pubs are generally victims of market forces and changes in demand. If people don't use them, we'll lose them.
And, once they close, can we – should we – really stop the supermarkets opening in their place? If Tesco hadn't taken up the Swan and Sugar-loaf site for example, it'd most likely still be gathering moss and inhabited by squatters.
Yet, for all this, there is something undeniably sad about the closure of these pubs.
We've lost village post offices, train ticket attendants and bus conductors have been replaced by machines – things do, of course, move on.
But pubs are somehow different. They help foster friendship and community, and are part of the fabric of the areas they populate.
With all due respect, no one's ever going to say that about a Tesco Express, are they?
It's not up to the council or our local MP to save our pubs. This is one for us.
If you love pubs, why not give the six-pack from the local chain store a miss this weekend, and meet your mates for a swift half in the local.
