The pub has long been a mainstay of British high streets and communities, however, in recent years the local has adapted to become much more than just that.
There are hundreds of examples of local pubs that have opened as a post office, or greengrocer, or library, and in doing so have transformed the lives of thousands of local residents at a time. Moreover, pubs raise over £100m for hundreds of charities and worthy causes and provide a further £40m in funding or in-kind support for grassroots sport.
IT’S ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH.
For some people, the loss of a local pub isn’t just the loss of a local small business, it means the loss of their social network.
Loneliness blights many communities up and down the country but this too is something that pubs have helped to fix. Countless locals across the UK have started social clubs for isolated or traditionally hard to reach groups of people.
IT’S ABOUT LOCAL ECONOMIES.
The social cohesion that pubs provide for society is absolutely vital, but so too is the economic contribution they make.
Pubs and the brewers that supply them provide £23bn in value-added to the UK economy each year, supporting 900,000 jobs – over 40% of which are occupied by people under the age of 25.
