Last orders for the rural pub?

As citizens and consumers we take an interest in the provision of services, and as geographers we have a role in studying their changing distribution in space. Services is an important topic at AS for all the major exam boards. Why are rural services under threat, and can they adapt successfully to changing socioeconomic conditions? This article focuses upon pubs. According to the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), Britain’s largest pressure group, pubs are closing across the country at the rate of 55 per month.

Bob Steel

The Cider House in Worcestershire is the ideal of a rural pub, but will it go the way of The Mounted Rifleman in Kent...

Rural services have been in decline for many years as village character changes: incomers tend to be more mobile and able to access and use urban services, and the expense of maintaining rural facilities means that they tend to get ‘rationalised’. The spotlight has been on Post Offices in recent years but the rural pub, a cornerstone of village life for centuries, is fast disappearing too.

In the past, even small villages had several pubs to meet the demands of the hardworking agricultural labour force, but modern workers, who do less manual work, have a different lifestyle. People are increasingly spending their leisure time at home, often buying their drink more cheaply at supermarkets. At the same time, high property prices mean that pubs can be sold for large sums if planning permission for conversion to housing can be obtained. The large companies that own most pubs are geared to profit. They do not feel the same responsibility to local communities as an independent owner might do.