The UK is known for three things: our monarchy, tea and pubs.
And in the last 25 years, the UK has lost both the Queen and more than 15,000 of our trusty pubs (although tea is certainly still being drunk).
British pubs are central to how our country operates, serving as a marker of community spirit that can unite an area lacking in cohesion.
There are many factors contributing to the decline of pubs in the UK such as the 2007 indoor smoking ban, the cost of living crisis causing a rise in ‘pre-drinking’ on cheap supermarket-bought alcohol and most recently, the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw the world lock down and stop going out all together.
Due to these changes in consumer behaviour, year by year, the number of pubs in the UK are decreasing and according to the British Beer and Pub Association, we have lost 26% of our pubs since 2000.
Alongside these figures, the ONS has reported a rise in levels of loneliness, with mental health services peaking during lockdown as a wave of disconnect within communities took its toll.
Psychologist Dr John Cacioppo said: “Loneliness is not a pathology. It’s just an external signal from our body that something is going wrong with our environment.”
A simple pub quiz, karaoke evening, or just a Friday night pint with the football on, can be the highlight of someone’s week.
New data from the UK Spirits Alliance confirms what all brits are taught from a young age: the pub is much more than a place to merely buy a drink.
The poll showed nearly two thirds of the public believe pubs play an important role in addressing loneliness and social isolation.
However, while overall UK numbers are dwindling, data shows London pub owners have attempted to keep the doors open.
Neema Rai, owner of Tamesis Dock in London said: “Pubs aren’t just about serving drinks, they’re about serving our communities.
“For many of our regulars, the pub is where friendships are formed and where people look out for each other.
“From maintaining a varied drinks offering to fostering a sense of community spirit, it’s time we recognised pubs for more than pints.
“With excise duty rises and soaring costs, pubs are fighting for survival. Every closure means another community loses its heart. Our locals are lifelines, not luxuries.”
Lockdowns left people confined to their homes, exaggerating feelings of isolation, while pubs suffered as social bubbles and in-person gatherings were banned, forcing many establishments to close their doors.
The shrinking pub map has consequences that go far beyond a lack of pints, deepening mental health issues and corroding communities.
This data suggests the reduction in our prime social spaces has been a central contributor to the UK’s loneliness epidemic, significantly dented by the pandemic where businesses shut down and social anxiety became rife.
In recent years, London has attempted to stay afloat, maintaining a plateau of closures as from 2014 to 2020, only 44 pubs drying up, compared to 1,263 London pubs closing between 2000 and 2013.
In 2022, just after the height of the pandemic, 700,000 Londoners admitted to feeling lonely almost all of the time and, strikingly, 12% of those claimed the lack of boozers was a factor, proving pubs were a central social hub.
Milly Baltazar, 26, tells us that as her local pub shut down, she felt the community began to seem more and more isolated.
Baltazar, who lives in central London, said: “As soon as the pub closed, we were all thinking ‘where do we go now?’. Some of the locals we would bump into at the pub disappeared and we haven’t seen them since.
“Lots of people rely on the pub as a place to meet friends and socialise so without the pub, we lost that social connection.”
The UK is beginning to look more and more bleak with the cost of living crisis contributing to more expensive drinks and fewer owners who can afford to keep their locals running.
With a challenging future ahead, the BBPA are continuing their campaign to ensure that British pubs are not wiped from the UK’s future.
The British Beer and Pub Association agree that pubs are a cornerstone of British heritage and has been striving to minimise closures since launching its ‘Long Live the Local’ campaign in 2018.
