# Where have all the public houses gone?



## Danny Rose (Nov 22, 2008)

Just back from a quick trip to Taunton, and was amazed at the number of pubs that have disappeared over the last few years. I counted at least 12 pubs that have gone in one stroll around the town centre and railway station. My old fella tells me of even more that have been turned into houses or flats, etc, or simply left to rot.

I know that pubs have faced a hard time over the last couple of years, and even in the south east I've noticed the odd pub going down the pan, but the scale of devastation in Taunton was sad and depressing. Is the picture the same around other parts of the West Country?


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## Hocus Eye. (Nov 22, 2008)

Is the Turks Head still there.  It has been about 15 years since I was in Taunton but I remember that place.


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## Danny Rose (Nov 22, 2008)

Hocus Eye. said:


> Is the Turks Head still there.  It has been about 15 years since I was in Taunton but I remember that place.



Nope. That's gone. The Ring O' Bells up the road has also shut down, altho' my old fella tells me it might re-open, Apparently it was doing pretty good business, but the brewery put up the rent, and the landlord bailed out because he couldn't make a living any more.


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## nursey (Nov 22, 2008)

Loads of pubs have closed in Torquay lately. Most of them are yates type places, seems ok for yer local type place at the minute.


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## Danny Rose (Nov 22, 2008)

nursey said:


> Loads of pubs have closed in Torquay lately. Most of them are yates type places, seems ok for yer local type place at the minute.



I think the really sad thing about Taunton is that these were all local pubs. Some of them must have been in use as public houses for a hundred years or more. The Moon Under the Water style pubs all seemed to be doing very nicely.


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## Hocus Eye. (Nov 22, 2008)

Nursey

Tell me about the pubs that have closed in Torquay.  That was my home town.  I am most disturbed to hear that.


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## Isambard (Nov 23, 2008)

Pubs have closed in my knacker village as well.
Everyone's skint and it is great land for Bristol commuter flats.


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## isitme (Nov 23, 2008)

Pubs have all 'reinvented themselves. the proper locals still have their locals, but they are all old geezers. people just cant afford to go to the pub anymore, specially when it's cheaper to drink round your friends house and you can usually smoke without being thrown out


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## Isambard (Nov 23, 2008)

Pubs round our way fall into specific niches.
There's ones that are really into the CAMRA stuff, ones on the seafront that can use the view as a selling point. There's one HORRIBLE freestanding 1970s box style pub that still gets the trade as its the first pub outside the gates of the holiday camp where the drinks are even dearer.

But regula run of the mill local boozers are dying on their feet.


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## Mrs Magpie (Nov 23, 2008)

Five pubs are closing every day in Britain


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## mr steev (Nov 23, 2008)

Loads of pubs round here have closed down. 
Out of the 8 local pubs closest to me 4 are now boarded up. It's not just the local ones either a couple of the big ones in town have gone too.


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## xenon (Nov 23, 2008)

It's price. Cheap pubs, Whetherspoons etc, are doing well. Caning 15 - 20 quid on a standard night out in the local, isn't something you can do every night. Not longterm anyway.


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## Isambard (Nov 23, 2008)

Yeah, it's teh regular few pints on a midweek evening that people aren't doing any more and when they go out for a big weekend on the lash they aren't doing it in the local pubs.


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## stavros (Nov 24, 2008)

Danny Rose said:


> The Ring O' Bells up the road has also shut down, altho' my old fella tells me it might re-open



Doesn't look like it will to me, just looking like it's going to slowly rot away.


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## Giles (Nov 25, 2008)

Maybe if people can buy these places (FREEHOLD is a must!) cheap-ish in the current downturn, they will make sense again.

That is, they won't have to charge £3 a pint just to break even.

In the end, its up to people to "use em or lose em".

Giles..


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## Isambard (Nov 25, 2008)

It's not just the price of buying a pub property freehold.

It's the wholesale price of beer, the taxation, the regulation, the smoking ban, structural changes in society, a fall in real incomes and the aim of the government / state that they don't really WANT old fashioned pubs to survive.


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## Giles (Nov 25, 2008)

Isambard said:


> It's not just the price of buying a pub property freehold.
> 
> It's the wholesale price of beer, the taxation, the regulation, the smoking ban, structural changes in society, a fall in real incomes and the aim of the government / state that they don't really WANT old fashioned pubs to survive.



How much of the price of your £2.80 - £3.x London pint is actual alcohol tax? I know you also pay VAT on it, but you pay VAT on most things......

I know some leased places force the landlord to pay over the odds for wholesale drinks .... that's why I stressed that from what I can see, the only winning move is to own the pub freehold - then you can shop around for your drinks.

Assuming you can do this, how much is a standard barrel of lager and what does it cost per pint.

I know the smoking ban hasn't helped either. 

Plus people have far more to do at home than they once did. Like waste time on forums, watch DVDs, watch 100+ channels of shite on TV, play computer games (online!) etc etc.....

Why do you think that it is "the aim of the government / state that they don't really WANT old fashioned pubs to survive"?

Giles..


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## DotCommunist (Nov 25, 2008)

Oh you get me ready in your 56 chevy
Why dont we go sit down in the shade
Take shelter on my front porch
The dandy lion sun scorching,
Like a glass of cold lemonade
I will do laundry if you pay all the bills

Chorus:

Where is my john wayne
Where is my prairie son
Where is my happy ending
Where have all the cowboys gone

Why dont you stay the evening
Kick back and watch the tv
And Ill fix a little something to eat
Oh I know your back hurts from working on the tractor
How do you take your coffee my sweet
I will raise the children if you pay all the bills

Chorus

I am wearing my new dress tonight
But you dont even notice me
Say our goodbyes (3 times)

We finally sold the chevy
When we had another baby
And you took that job in tennessee
You made friends at the farm
And you joined them at the bar
Almost every single day of the week

I will wash the dishes while you go have a beer
Where is my john wayne
Where is my prairie son
Where is my happy ending
Where have all the cowboys gone
Where is my marlboro man
Where is his shiny gun
Where is my lonely ranger
Where have all the cowboys gone
Yippee aw, yippee yea (3 times)


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## Isambard (Nov 25, 2008)

Even where pubs are not contractually tied to a particular brewery they still find it hard to get anything like the wholesale prices that the retail trade does. 
The big discounts on beer you get when you buy a LOT, like being in a chain.....
Not just beer, I've known pubs to buy their soft drinks in supermarkets as its simply cheaper than using the liscensed trade wholesalers.

Local pubs represent a community space that enables people to build relationships a round a common bond. Be it workplace, a neighbourhood or common interest. The government would far rather have us atomised watching IACGMEOH on the box and if we do go out in an anonymous drinking factory.


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## Zaskar (Nov 25, 2008)

Good riddens to them.
Alcohol is just a way of gathering revenue for the gov from the vulneralbe.


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## stavros (Nov 25, 2008)

The Cricketers on the corner of the high street and Priory Bridge Avenue looked like it had closed down but now when I walk past it seems to be back with it. It must be tough there, with it, The Crown & Septre and The Plough all within 20 metres of one another, plus Wetherspoons just up the road.


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## Danny Rose (Nov 27, 2008)

stavros said:


> The Cricketers on the corner of the high street and Priory Bridge Avenue looked like it had closed down but now when I walk past it seems to be back with it. It must be tough there, with it, The Crown & Septre and The Plough all within 20 metres of one another, plus Wetherspoons just up the road.



Those pubs once had the advantage of the "four o'clock rock" on saturday afternoons, when they were allowed to stay open later, so that the farmer's could get a drink after the market had closed. Of course they were a magnet for every alky within a ten mile radius. Seems like the stone age now, with the advent of all day drinking.


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## Isambard (Nov 28, 2008)

My local made their money on market day. 
Now the market is moved down to tje motorway junction in the hands of a big company to enable the market lands behind our house to be "developed".

It's a LibDem/NewLabour/Whatever crusade to destroy our communities.


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## rubbershoes (Nov 28, 2008)

Danny Rose said:


> Those pubs once had the advantage of the "four o'clock rock" on saturday afternoons, when they were allowed to stay open later, so that the farmer's could get a drink after the market had closed.



the market has closed for good so thats's more pub trade lost


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## stavros (Dec 1, 2008)

Danny Rose said:


> The Ring O' Bells up the road has also shut down, altho' my old fella tells me it might re-open



And a wise man is he. I walk past it everyday on my way home from work and it was very much open at 5.15 this afternoon. Still a bit shabby and looking like work is ongoing, but open nonetheless.


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## Isambard (Dec 2, 2008)

You are to from Somerset then Stavros?


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## stavros (Dec 2, 2008)

Not originally (Hampshire), but have recently moved to Taunton for work. Where abouts are you then?


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## Danny Rose (Dec 3, 2008)

stavros said:


> And a wise man is he. I walk past it everyday on my way home from work and it was very much open at 5.15 this afternoon. Still a bit shabby and looking like work is ongoing, but open nonetheless.



To be honest, "wise" is not the first word I'd use to describe him, but nice to know he was right about the RoB. I have some fond memories of that place, and indeed of the Wood Street, which sadly is no more.


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## big eejit (Dec 5, 2008)

Sign up here to protest against the proposed tax increases on beer, send a message to your MP and help save your local:

http://www.axethebeertax.com/


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## stavros (Dec 13, 2008)

The one up Cheddon Road next to the Co-op looks long dead and not like it's coming back.


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## skyscraper101 (Dec 13, 2008)

I have tried to support my local pub but they are so intent on shutting at 11pm and not extending their license I prefer to drink at home and not rush drink my beer.

Not to mention the fact that a pint is £3.60 and the staff couldn't give a shit for friendly service.


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## Danny Rose (Dec 14, 2008)

stavros said:


> The one up Cheddon Road next to the Co-op looks long dead and not like it's coming back.



That was the Denmark. Its the only boozer for miles in any direction. It was always pretty grim in there, but with practically no competition you'd have thought it would manage to survive somehow.


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## Isambard (Dec 31, 2008)

stavros said:


> Where abouts are you then?



Between the pound shop and the derelict market where the smell of the mud flats at low tide migles with the diesel haze off the M5.

Ahhhh Somerset.


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## Divisive Cotton (Jan 1, 2009)

In London now you buy 8 cans of Stella for £5


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## stavros (Jan 1, 2009)

Isambard said:


> Between the pound shop and the derelict market where the smell of the mud flats at low tide migles with the diesel haze off the M5.
> 
> Ahhhh Somerset.



The pound shop on the high street (opposite HSBC)? And the market opposite Morrisons?


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## Isambard (Jan 1, 2009)

We don't have them new fangled things like banks and supermarkets where I'm to.   Between Bridgwater and the Avon Curtain innit.


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