British drink 22% alcohol less than 20 years ago and a quarter of pubs closed: in villages we mobilize to save them to save them
However, the real places of life, many British pubs are at risk of closing due to too high operating costs. In some cases, the mobilization of the population with fruit and saves abandoned or endangered devices.
A few years ago, Radnor Arms fell, advertising for almost 200 years in the village of Wales: Water was along the walls, Ivy won broken windows and rats pens sprinkled the ground. Today, the device is born and laughter resonates between its wall, thanks to the decision of several people who managed to raise the means necessary to store it.
Open in the 1930s in the New Radnor, a picturesque village in the south of Wales, was closed in 2016 due to lack of profitability.
Fate shared by tens of thousands of pubs in the UK, for impact on increasing operating costs and a decrease in alcohol consumption. After reaching the summit at the beginning of 2000 with an average of almost 12 liters of pure alcohol consumed by adults, the decline was very sensitive to two decades. In 2023, 9.3 liters, according to British Beer and Pub Association, dropped by more than 22%.
Result: More than a quarter of 60,800 companies identified in 2000 have put the key under the door over the last 25 years.
And the trend continues: 378 pubs – more than one day – should still close its door this year, out of 45,000 still in operation at the end of 2024, according to British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), their main Union.
“Village Heart”
Suddenly, 438 New Radnor residents could choose between six devices that meet around the drink. The closure of Radnor Arms in 2016 deprived them of their last place of the assembly.
“It was the heart of the village,” recalls David Pyle, retired psychiatrist for 18 years right next to the pub. “Sometimes we have heard a little Hubbub, sometimes roaring when Wales, or even singer of singer singing … it was great. And then closed.”
“It was a place where anyone could enter. Here they experienced birth, death and weddings,” said Sue Norton, a pensioner who became president of the Collective public warranty.
To give her a second life, she and her team urged “community property funds”, a government program to buy pubs or endangered businesses.
Fundraiser organized last year allowed to collect 200,000 pounds (approximately EUR 230,000), which is a double amount thanks to the government aid program, supplemented by additional subsidies of £ 40,000.
With £ 440,000 in the pocket, villagers were able to buy, renovate and reopen advertising and call on volunteers to work behind the bar.
“Instead of sharing”
Among them, Eugene Marchenko, 44 -year -old Ukrainian refugee, organized by a village with his wife and son. This Dnipro lawyer says his new activity allowed him to meet almost all the inhabitants of the village.
“I read in the books that advertising is a famous British tradition, but now I live. It’s not just drinking alcohol, it’s where you share where everyone knows,” he says.
According to Plunkett UK, an association that supports business projects in rural areas, it was created in 2021 under Boris Johnson and allowed to save 55 pubs across the country.
However, the program was closed in December by the Labor government, which in 2024 came to power that the Conservatives caused financial difficulties “dependent”.
Although it was relieved that they were able to submit their ensembles in time, New Radnor residents regret that others are not so lucky. Although for the time being, they enjoy their victory. Since it is a simple advertisement, it aims to accommodate various activities, from the morning for mothers and their children to auxiliary session with Alzheimer’s disease and those who accompany them.