After the hyperbole, a note on the social role of the pub
With some pubs re-opening in England on 4th July there was considerable media hyperbole about thousands rushing to the local and getting drunk. No doubt some did but most who use the pub regularly know its core reason is much more than just selling drink.
One need only look for example at radical working-class history in the first half of the nineteenth century to see that from the Luddites to the Chartists the pub was a central meeting place. This was perhaps particularly so after the 1830 Beerhouse Act which led to a considerable increase in pubs, perhaps a little like the micro-pubs of today.
The idea of the ‘pub as the hub’ of local community activity has long been one promoted by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) CAMRA was founded in 1971 to combat moves by the big corporate brewers to replace traditional cask ales with bland artificially carbonated keg beer. To its credit, it has been one of the most successful consumer campaigns of recent decades and has also been active in trying to stop pub closures. Recent legislation in England, supported by CAMRA, allowing pubs under threat to be classified as Assets of Community Value (ACV) has helped.
Traditionally many pubs have supported a variety of social activities ranging from pub games through support for local music, theatre and other performing arts, to support for local football clubs and beer festivals. A pub which recognises its important role in the local community and offers well-kept beer at a fair price is far more than just a boozer. It’s a social location and inclusive of community.
Of course that doesn’t describe every pub, there are an infinite variety, the good, the bad, the indifferent. But they have a vital role in society. At the height of the temperance movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century temperance pubs and hotels were opened. They didn’t of course sell alcohol (or not much anyway) but with or without drink people are social.
This is an edited and updated extract from a piece that first appeared in Culture Matters in Autumn 2018.
Phil Mellows @philmellows has written a very good piece on the subject in the Morning Star (4th July). https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/c/why-we-should-now-be-more-drink-aware-ever
Unusual times indicate unusual measures. There will be a special poll for the Beard Friendly Pub of the Summer in September. Details a little later in July
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