Is change brewing to help save the local?

Supping a pint of your favourite tipple while setting the world to rights has been a staple part of community life in Britain for centuries. But time is slowly being called on the traditional watering hole and the outlook remains bleak for landlords, reports Tom Bevan

IN recent years pubs have been closing at a record rate and beer sales have halved in 30 years to below 30 million pints a day, the lowest since the 1930s.

Latest figures show there are still 16 pubs a week closing nationally and the rate of decline shows no sign of slowing down.

Exeter as a city centre has arguably been surviving better than some.

But in suburbs and on the outskirts of the city, without the same vibrant student population and the passing shopping trade to rely on, the crunch is being well and truly felt.

In place of pubs are cafes, restaurants, private homes and car parks, while others remain boarded-up, waiting for either an unlikely revival or for planning permission to be granted for a change use.

The Exeter and East Devon branch of CAMRA has released a list of 80 drinking establishments that have closed in the area in recent times – and there are more being added all the time. The list makes sobering reading. In Exeter the St Loyes Hotel remains closed and boarded up, the Admiral Inn was converted into affordable homes in July 2007, the Golden Lion Inn was closed, Bart's Tavern shut in 2003 and was converted into apartments, the Honiton Inn shut in 2008, the Lazy Landlord was demolished in 2002 and is now apartments, the Paper Makers' Arms closed in the 1990s and the Red Cow Inn, closed in 2002 to be later demolished. The Pack Horse Inn, the Riva Nightclub, Seamus O'Donnells, Tigga's Bar, the Showman and the Country House Inn within the city have also gone while as the Echo revealed recently, The Welcome Inn, built in the early 1830s shortly after the opening of the Canal Basin, is being converted into a quayside tearoom.

Several pubs in Exmouth are also on the closure list including the Albion Inn and the Clarence and several in Topsham, Honiton, Sidmouth and Crediton have also gone.

Barely a village community in the area has not been affected by the loss of a pub – Clyst St Mary, Broadclyst, Whimple, Ottery St Mary, Fenny Bridges, and Sidbury to name just a few.

The rising price of booze, due to high Government taxes, the smoking ban and changing drinking habits with supermarkets offering bargain alcohol, are said to have played a part in the decline.

The managing director of Barworld Ltd, Leon Courtney, used to run the Ship and Pelican and the Railwayman in Exeter and is still in charge of the General Buller. He said: "If this country loses its community pubs it will be a disaster. Pubs raise more money for charity than Comic Relief and Children in Need added together.

"There are thousands of football, hockey, darts, and pool teams based in pubs and clubs. Many different sorts of card games are played every week in pubs. Quizzes and all sorts of meetings are held in pubs and there are wakes, weddings, birthdays, christening parties and more. Most bands are also started in a pub or club.

"The supermarkets have helped to close the butcher, baker, greengrocer, garages, and now the wet-led pubs are under threat. The pubs doing a high percentage of food will be okay. Of course they do not pay VAT on the purchase of their food.

"This situation will continue until the Government does something about the tax on alcohol, and makes a level playing field for all. The pub has no chance against the supermarket. Over the last 20 years the supermarket share of alcohol sales has gone from 10 per cent to 50 per cent.

"If all alcohol was taxed on volume at delivery, then pubs, supermarkets and off-licences would all be paying the same tax. It would be up to them what they sell it for. I think this would be the level playing field."

Elsewhere pubs are only surviving due to the goodwill and hard work of their communities. Among them is the Stoke Canon community pub, which opened last summer for the first time in 18 months after it was taken over by the community.

Residents and businesses in the village financed the refurbishment and are committed to its day-to-day running.

Mandy Plumridge, a member of the committee which organised the pub's revival, said it had been a big success.

She said: "We have now got a chef who is in most of the week and we hold all sorts of functions from theme evenings to birthdays and christenings.

"It has been really successful and had a packed pub last night. People in the village have shares and raised a substantial amount to get it up and running. We now have volunteers who do shifts behind the bar and other roles such as helping out in the garden and delivering flyers.

"So many pubs are closing down and people need to invest more into it if they want to keep their pub in the village.

"We have got the heart of our village back. We had people in last night from 18-90 and it is lovely to see everyone really enjoying it."

Ray Dwan, of the Exeter and East Devon branch of CAMRA, said: "This is a nationwide problem and the figures are alarming. There are not many of what I would call drinkers' pubs around any more and I think a lot of it is a cultural thing.

"The city centre of Exeter benefits from shoppers and passing trade but in the more rural communities, pubs are really struggling. Many of them are turning into community pubs, which could be a way forward, but that relies on the hard work and dedication of people.

"Sadly once they are gone, they are often gone forever."

If you have any pictures or memories of pubs that are now closed that you would like to be considered for our nostalgia page, please email mbyrne@expressandecho.co.uk