For a village of around 2,500 we’ve got a lot of places to drink. There are two pubs and two members clubs all within a few minutes staggering distance of each other on the high street.
It could be that we’ve got some serious issues of alcohol abuse to address, but I like to think it’s a sign of a vibrant community.
While the fate of rural post offices has been widely debated, the future of rural pubs has not received as much attention. The Pub is the Hub initiative is an excellent exception.
Peter Wilby wrote well on the future of rural pubs recently and I was recently sent a copy of a report from the Social Issues Research Centre called The Enduring Appeal Of The Local.
Its research (commissioned by Greene King, but still valid I believe) concluded:
We may sign up to an online community to communicate with like-minded people who share our interests across the globe, or we may reveal selected aspects of ourselves on Facebook. These are, however, 'non-local' by definition....They may extend our social and professional lives and allow much wider patterns of interaction, but they do not replace the more traditional and timeless face-to-face activities that take place in the special social institutions created to facilitate them à central among them, the pub.
I got the agenda in the post today for our next parish council meeting. As usual I expect the members of the public present to number zero.
After the meeting a lot of the councillors will adjourn to one of the pubs for a pint and the pub will be busy.
I wonder sometimes if we shouldn’t be having the meeting nearer the people rather than expect them to come to us. And if the people are all down the pub...well it’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it.