tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/pubs-7175/articlesPubs – The Conversation2023-07-06T14:50:22Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2091672023-07-06T14:50:22Z2023-07-06T14:50:22ZHow ‘drinkflation’ affects the price of your pint<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535837/original/file-20230705-17-xm2j7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C16%2C5461%2C3646&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is 'drinkflation' a thing?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/clueless-red-haired-young-man-curly-618370700">Cast Of Thousands/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The cost of living crisis has seen the prices of many goods and services rise sharply in the past 18 months, but food and drink prices have been particularly hard hit. </p>
<p>Some food producers have responded by reducing the size of their products, while keeping prices the same – a phenomenon known as “<a href="https://theconversation.com/three-ways-companies-change-their-products-to-hide-inflation-189924">shrinkflation</a>”. </p>
<p>When several major brewers were reported to have reduced the strength of beers recently, including Fosters lager (cut from 4% alcohol by volume (ABV) to to 3.7%) and ales such as Old Speckled Hen and Spitfire, it led to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12206607/After-shrinkflation-drinkflation-Brewers-pocket-millions-cutting-alcohol-beers.html">accusations of “drinkflation”</a> and short-changing of customers. </p>
<p>Duty on beer is levied on the basis of alcohol content, so a 0.3% reduction in ABV equates to a saving of around 4p on a pint. Brewers can pocket this if they keep the sales price the same. If this seems like small beer, consider the fact that we drink around <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/alcohol-bulletin">7.8 billion pints</a> each year in the UK, meaning that a 0.3% cut across all beers would see industry revenue rise by £290 million a year. </p>
<p>Brewers and the British Beer and Pub Association have pointed to <a href="https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2023/06/from-shrinkflation-to-drinkflation-alcohol-reduced-to-ensure-prices-remain-static/">rising production costs</a> and squeezed profit margins as the justification for these reductions in strength. But concerns remain that the great British pint is becoming another casualty of the cost of living crisis.</p>
<p>But this is not a new phenomenon. Brewers have been cutting the strength of major beer brands for <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h1301">well over a decade</a>. In many cases this is done with minimal publicity and without many consumers even noticing. </p>
<p>HMRC <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowance-excise-duty-alcohol-duty/alcohol-duty-rates-from-24-march-2014">collects alcohol taxes</a> on behalf of the UK Treasury and requires all alcoholic products above 1.2% to advertise their alcoholic strength on the label. But beer producers are allowed a little <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1996/1499/schedule/5/made">wiggle room</a> around this, provided the value on the label is within 0.5% of the true strength. </p>
<p>This is a concession to small producers who may find it hard to produce every batch to exactly the same ABV but don’t want to have to produce new labels with each small variation. </p>
<p>Molson Coors took advantage of this leeway in 2012 to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41059610">reduce the strength of Carling</a> from 4% to 3.7%, but continued to label and market it as 4%. This only came to light when <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/carling-alcohol-volume-lower-than-advertised-tribunal-tax-hmrc-a7914731.html">HMRC took the company to court</a> for paying duty at the lower rate. Ultimately Carling won the court case, but this calls the strength of the contents of your can or pint glass into question. </p>
<h2>Changing tastes</h2>
<p>It is also important to point out that long-term trends in alcohol consumption have not favoured beer producers and so they may be looking for ways to recover lost revenues. In 1970, UK adults drank an average of 181 pints of beer per year. By 2021 that had fallen to 120. Over the same period, average wine consumption increased from 5 to 28 bottles per year. </p>
<p>These changes in drinking patterns have run alongside a gradual shift away from drinking in the pub to drinking at home. A couple of decades ago we drank two-thirds of our beer in pubs and bars, according to data from the British Beer and Pub Association – today it’s less then one-third. </p>
<p>COVID lockdowns and the closure of pubs for much of the pandemic has only served to accelerate these trends, as has an <a href="https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/mesas-monitoring-report-2022/">ever-widening gap</a> in the price of drinks in the pub compared to the supermarket. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535885/original/file-20230705-19-u5hhho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Line chart showing line for total pints of beer sold at pubs and line for total drunk at home converging over time." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535885/original/file-20230705-19-u5hhho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535885/original/file-20230705-19-u5hhho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535885/original/file-20230705-19-u5hhho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535885/original/file-20230705-19-u5hhho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535885/original/file-20230705-19-u5hhho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535885/original/file-20230705-19-u5hhho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535885/original/file-20230705-19-u5hhho.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://beerandpub.com/data-statistics/">Data from the British Beer and Pub Association, analysis by Colin Angus</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There has also been a massive shift in the age profile of drinkers. Alongside <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-young-people-drinking-less-than-their-parents-generation-did-172225">big falls in alcohol consumption</a> among young people, who historically go to the pub far more, there have been <a href="https://www.ias.org.uk/2019/01/25/a-generation-of-hidden-drinkers-whats-happening-to-the-drinking-of-the-over-50s/">corresponding increases in drinking</a> by older age groups, who tend to favour drinking at home.</p>
<p>So the cost of living crisis has arrived at a tough time for the brewing industry. Yet, in spite of these challenging headwinds, the price of alcohol has risen much more slowly than other goods. </p>
<p>With overall inflation sitting at 20.5% since January 2021 and the price of common goods such as milk, cheese and eggs having risen by over 50%, the prices of beer, wine and spirits have risen by 13.1%, 7.2% and 8% respectively. This is less than <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/datasets/consumerpriceindices">any other food and drink category</a>. And so, although average disposable income has fallen, alcohol is more affordable than at almost any point in the last 30 years.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535888/original/file-20230705-17-sqixl8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Line chart showing affordability of all alcohol, beer, wine and spirits increasing between 1990 and 2020." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535888/original/file-20230705-17-sqixl8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535888/original/file-20230705-17-sqixl8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535888/original/file-20230705-17-sqixl8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535888/original/file-20230705-17-sqixl8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535888/original/file-20230705-17-sqixl8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535888/original/file-20230705-17-sqixl8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535888/original/file-20230705-17-sqixl8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices">Data from ONS, analysis by Colin Angus</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All of this means that it’s little surprise to see brewers looking for ways to increase their profits. Making small reductions in alcoholic strength is one way they can do this. </p>
<p>But are consumers being cheated? People’s perspective on this will depend on their motivations for drinking beer. With shrinkflation, consumers are paying the same amount for a chocolate bar or a bag of crisps, but getting less. With “drinkflation” consumers are still getting the same amount of beer, it just contains slightly less alcohol. </p>
<p>So, only people who are drinking for the specific purpose of getting drunk are being “short-changed”. For people who are drinking beer because they like the taste, or who see beer as an important part of a social ritual, the lower alcohol content is more likely to be a positive, given that <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40814-021-00777-4">people consume less alcohol</a> when drinking lower strength beer and the health benefits of reduced alcohol intake.</p>
<p>In line with this, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e7ff0844-06f3-4b6a-89d8-ea2f2a329cff">the low alcohol and alcohol-free beer industry</a> is growing. Most shops and many bars now offer at least one alcohol-free beer option. The UK market has also seen the launch of several lower-strength, carb and calorie versions of existing brands, such as <a href="https://www.beveragedaily.com/Article/2023/04/05/A-new-star-is-born-Heineken-Silver-brings-light-lager-shaped-for-a-new-generation-of-US-consumers">Heineken Silver</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Multiple hands raised with glasses." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535865/original/file-20230705-27-4ubafv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535865/original/file-20230705-27-4ubafv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535865/original/file-20230705-27-4ubafv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535865/original/file-20230705-27-4ubafv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535865/original/file-20230705-27-4ubafv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535865/original/file-20230705-27-4ubafv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535865/original/file-20230705-27-4ubafv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=478&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-happy-friends-drinking-toasting-beer-1085215253">View Apart/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This puts us in an unusual situation. Reducing the alcoholic strength of beers is in the commercial interests of brewers, but it also aligns with trends in consumer demand and is likely to be a benefit to public health by reducing overall alcohol consumption. </p>
<p>It’s incredibly rare for these, usually competing, interests to be pulling in the same direction, so perhaps the current trend is something worth celebrating for almost everybody. Cheers to that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209167/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin Angus receives funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research, World Health Organization, Scottish Government, Institute for Public Health, NHS England & NHS Improvement and Cancer Research UK. </span></em></p>The cost of living crisis may have affected pricing for beer brands, helping brewers save money but it could also be good for people’s health.Colin Angus, Senior Research Fellow in the Sheffield Alcohol Research Group, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1896972022-12-21T19:11:44Z2022-12-21T19:11:44ZAre Aussie pubs really filled with tiles because it’s easier to wash off the pee? History has a slightly different story<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/487976/original/file-20221004-14-bn0u57.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C2%2C1592%2C1262&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The public bar at Hancock's Essendon Hotel, photographed around 1938.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Harold Paynting Collection, State Library of Victoria.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2104/ha070008">six o’clock swill</a>” is one of the best known terms in Australian history. It captures the unedifying drinking habits of a 50-year period from the first world war until the 1960s, when hotel bars closed at 6pm in the south-eastern states of Australia. </p>
<p>Six o’clock closing legislation <a href="https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/publications/research-papers/download/36-research-papers/13740-2016-2-liquorlaws-hn">was impelled</a> by wartime patriotism and austerity, and a temperance mood which aimed for the prohibition of alcohol.</p>
<p>You may <a href="http://melbourneblogger.blogspot.com/2015/11/sexist-and-gross-alcoholic-behaviour-in.html">have heard</a> the myth that the six o'clock swill – and the excessive drinking it supported – led to the tiles which are so common in Australian pubs.</p>
<p>According to architectural historian J.M. Freeland <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/953214">in his 1966 book</a>, after this early closing time was introduced, pubs became “no more than high-pressure drinking-houses”. </p>
<p>Freeland wrote about how these pubs became “disembowelled” and refurbished with tiles and linoleum to accommodate the “herds pressing for a place at the bar”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488692/original/file-20221007-20-6jj1km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A crowded bar" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488692/original/file-20221007-20-6jj1km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488692/original/file-20221007-20-6jj1km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488692/original/file-20221007-20-6jj1km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488692/original/file-20221007-20-6jj1km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488692/original/file-20221007-20-6jj1km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488692/original/file-20221007-20-6jj1km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488692/original/file-20221007-20-6jj1km.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Petty’s Hotel on York St, Sydney, just before the six o'clock closing in the early 1940s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That same year, journalist Craig McGregor <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Profile_of_Australia.html?id=wDsewAEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">evocatively described</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>long, slops-wet bars which men could rest an elbow on as they drank standing up, lavatory-style floors and walls so they could be hosed down when the pub closed for the night.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These men linked the tiles which had become a mainstay in Australian pubs directly to this six o'clock closing, and the need to hose them down after the swill.</p>
<p>But would it lessen the “Australianness” of the 20th century pub if we understood the “lavatory” tiles a little differently? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curfews-and-lockouts-battles-over-drinking-time-have-a-long-history-in-nsw-58220">Curfews and lockouts: battles over drinking time have a long history in NSW</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The moderne brewery hotel</h2>
<p>In fact, little renovation of pubs was done in the first decade of six o’clock closing. Publicans of the time faced considerable uncertainty surrounding licensing laws, and so were reluctant to spend money on expensive structural changes.</p>
<p>They didn’t know if the influence of the temperance movement would increase, or if Australia would go down the path of the United States and introduce <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States">Prohibition</a>. Local option polls in which people voted to decide if their suburb would be “wet” or “dry” also hung as a threat over publicans’ heads. </p>
<p>Much of the remodelling and rebuilding of pubs happened in <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1776334?lookfor=charles%20pickett&offset=1&max=24">the second half</a> of the 1930s, as Australia came out of the Depression and cheaper materials and lower property prices encouraged investment in pubs. </p>
<p>Pubs which underwent major structural changes or were demolished and rebuilt were usually owned by breweries. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488689/original/file-20221007-12631-bitlqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488689/original/file-20221007-12631-bitlqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488689/original/file-20221007-12631-bitlqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488689/original/file-20221007-12631-bitlqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488689/original/file-20221007-12631-bitlqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488689/original/file-20221007-12631-bitlqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488689/original/file-20221007-12631-bitlqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488689/original/file-20221007-12631-bitlqh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Regent Hotel on Broadway, Sydney, in 1933 with the Tooths brewery building behind.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">City of Sydney Archives</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In New South Wales, where Tooheys and Tooth & Co vied for market dominance, the modernisation of their pubs was a conscious effort to woo patrons. Architectural journals like Building, Decoration and Glass and Architecture <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-373502893/view?partId=nla.obj-374600083#">regularly featured</a> moderne-style brewery hotels.</p>
<p>Pubs had always tried to keep up with modern building techniques. As the earliest <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wattle_and_daub">wattle and daub</a> or wooden pubs were demolished to make way for sturdier structures, many included modern features like electricity. But for every <a href="https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/looking-back-heritage-hotel-old-commercial-hotel-rockhampton">handsome hotel</a> with lacework, pressed metal ceilings and dado tiles, there were dozens of small pubs, especially in country areas, that lacked basic amenities like running hot and cold water. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488680/original/file-20221007-26-pedve0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488680/original/file-20221007-26-pedve0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488680/original/file-20221007-26-pedve0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488680/original/file-20221007-26-pedve0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488680/original/file-20221007-26-pedve0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488680/original/file-20221007-26-pedve0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488680/original/file-20221007-26-pedve0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488680/original/file-20221007-26-pedve0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Commercial Hotel in Rockhampton, photographed around 1917.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Neg 78244</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the same time, pubs were <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4808783">closely controlled</a> through liquor licensing laws. The state-based Licensing Boards could compel a pub to renovate or, worse, force it to close. </p>
<h2>‘The acme of cleanliness’</h2>
<p>In the 1920s and 1930s, the boards adopted a modernising policy based on progressive reform. They targeted kitchens, bathrooms/toilets and bars, making publicans replace grimy, dusty surfaces with materials like rubber, linoleum and tiles. </p>
<p>Tiles were part of a broader hygiene discourse. They were not unique to pubs in the south-eastern 6pm closing states. Public buildings like swimming pools, hospitals and cafeterias used tiles. When Myer’s Emporium opened its caféteria in Adelaide in 1928, it <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/73740401?browse=ndp%3Abrowse%2Ftitle%2FA%2Ftitle%2F34%2F1928%2F11%2F29%2Fpage%2F7280520%2Farticle%2F73740401">was remarked</a> the “spotless white-tiled walls and the electric refrigerators ensured the acme of cleanliness”. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483869/original/file-20220912-35992-gzztdk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An old, tiled cafeteria" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483869/original/file-20220912-35992-gzztdk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483869/original/file-20220912-35992-gzztdk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483869/original/file-20220912-35992-gzztdk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483869/original/file-20220912-35992-gzztdk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483869/original/file-20220912-35992-gzztdk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483869/original/file-20220912-35992-gzztdk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483869/original/file-20220912-35992-gzztdk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The cafeteria of the original Buckleys building of Coles Melbourne Store No. 4, 1934.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library Victoria</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mrs F.K. Thomas, the licensee of the Newtown Hotel, Brisbane, was commended for her judicious renovation with cream, blue and orange tiles on the exterior walls and green and deep cream tiles on the interior walls. This made for “<a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/198682695?browse=ndp%3Abrowse%2Ftitle%2FT%2Ftitle%2F942%2F1937%2F02%2F21%2Fpage%2F21887637%2Farticle%2F198682695">cleanliness and hygiene</a>”. </p>
<p>The Charing Cross, Sydney (1936), designed by Tooth’s architect Sidney Warden, featured cream wall tiles and tiled recesses in the public bar <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-368413998/view?partId=nla.obj-368430993#page/n43/mode/1up">to replace</a> the “old wooden mug shelf of earlier days”. </p>
<p>Cinemas and office buildings, like Melbourne’s landmark Nicholas Building (1926), used tiles. Sydney’s underground train stations used wall tiles throughout (like London’s Underground, New York’s subway and the Paris Metro). External tiles were also a feature of brewery pubs built around the turn of the century in Britain. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488686/original/file-20221007-24-gg0mvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488686/original/file-20221007-24-gg0mvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488686/original/file-20221007-24-gg0mvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488686/original/file-20221007-24-gg0mvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488686/original/file-20221007-24-gg0mvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488686/original/file-20221007-24-gg0mvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488686/original/file-20221007-24-gg0mvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488686/original/file-20221007-24-gg0mvy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the bars in the Burlington Hotel, Sydney, 1953.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">City of Sydney Archives</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As tile historian Hans van Lemmen <a href="http://www.hansvanlemmen.co.uk/cv-2/">comments</a>, tiles are not a modern architectural feature. The Ancients used terracotta, marble and ceramic tiles, while Dutch Delftware tiles were popular in Europe and the north American colonies from the 17th century onwards. </p>
<p>In the 19th century, industrial mass production made glazed wall tiles cheaper for both utilitarian and decorative uses. At the same time, the emerging awareness of sanitation and hygiene prompted the wider use of tiles as a way to manage germs and dirt. Tiles were easier to clean than plaster and wood. They were also more durable and colourful than traditional materials. </p>
<p>These days, the popular imagination might associate pub tiles with piss and vomit, even if the architectural move was more about general hygiene than the dangers of the six o'clock swill. Certainly, a pub with wall tiles was easy to clean, and breweries were keen to play-up the sparkling modernity of tiled bars. </p>
<p>After all, what would the swill pub have been like without tiles? </p>
<hr>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-heritage-protection-is-about-how-people-use-places-not-just-their-architecture-and-history-138128">Why heritage protection is about how people use places, not just their architecture and history</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189697/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanja Luckins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Would it lessen the ‘Australianness’ of the 20th century pub if we understood the ‘lavatory’ tiles in a broader context?Tanja Luckins, Historian, Department of Archeology and History, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1646062021-07-16T15:33:44Z2021-07-16T15:33:44ZVaccine passports: what businesses need to know – and why they should have more say<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411652/original/file-20210716-15-7wx84j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C222%2C8256%2C5265&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/selective-focus-on-smart-phone-defocused-1896994105">Shutterstock/travelwild</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imogen, a night club owner from London, hopes that COVID-19 “passports” could help with the return of customers to her venue. But the 42-year-old told us she is not happy about subjecting her customers to additional checks, and has concerns over a lack of clear guidance on their use. </p>
<p>Imogen is just one of many business owners in the UK anxiously waiting for extensive lifting of social restrictions. The UK government’s plan is that businesses and large events should use the <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/covid-pass/">NHS COVID Pass</a> in “high-risk settings” such as venues with limited ventilation where people spend time in close proximity.</p>
<p>They will not be mandatory. But the hope is that use of the pass might convince more people to complete their course of vaccinations and create a safer environment for indoor events. </p>
<p>The pass is designed to show the user’s vaccination status or test results and is obtained through the <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-app/about-the-nhs-app/">NHS app</a> or via the <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/covid-pass/">website</a>. Customers would need to install the app on their phones and generate an individual barcode. They also have the option to download and print a hard copy certificate or order a paper version. </p>
<p>For their part, businesses need to download the <a href="https://www.nhsx.nhs.uk/covid-19-response/covid-pass-verifier-app-support/">NHS COVID Pass Verifier</a> to scan a customer’s pass and check that they have been fully vaccinated, had a negative test, or have recovered from COVID-19. Here are some key points both customers and businesses should be aware of:</p>
<p><strong>1. Data privacy</strong> </p>
<p>All data related to immunity status – including results of negative tests – is stored in NHS computers that are encrypted and secure and have been storing private health data for decades. When the business uses its verifier there is no sharing of personal information or data taking place. The verifier only checks the validity of the barcode. </p>
<p><strong>2. Staff training and support</strong> </p>
<p>Businesses will need to have staff available to check customers’ immunity status. Training, technical support and updated processes could also be needed but there has been no official guidance about whether businesses would receive financial support to cover implementation costs.</p>
<p><strong>3. Queues</strong> </p>
<p>Expect longer queues than usual as the additional checks will take time. Technical issues and glitches could further test the patience of customers. </p>
<p><strong>4. Before the visit</strong> </p>
<p>It is important for businesses to communicate clearly whether they are open only to people who have been fully vaccinated or to anyone who can provide proof of a negative test. Customers need to check the requirements with the venue in advance to avoid confusion.</p>
<p><strong>5. After the visit.</strong> </p>
<p>Because full vaccination or prior infection does not stop anyone from contracting and spreading the virus, it will be good practice for people (especially the socially active) to keep their COVID-19 health profile updated by taking tests at least twice per week.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People dancing in a nightclub." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411655/original/file-20210716-21-87owht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411655/original/file-20210716-21-87owht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411655/original/file-20210716-21-87owht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411655/original/file-20210716-21-87owht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411655/original/file-20210716-21-87owht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411655/original/file-20210716-21-87owht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411655/original/file-20210716-21-87owht.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘You’re not on the app, you’re not coming in.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/silhouette-concert-person-on-shoulders-crowd-458794546">Shutterstock/Anthony Mooney</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In its review of “<a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/999408/COVID-Status-Certification-Review-Report.pdf">COVID-status certification</a>” the government explained that the NHS COVID Pass was not made mandatory partly because of the public’s concerns over vaccine passports and the need to protect the right of the businesses to choose how to turn their premises into safe environments. </p>
<p>In fact, some nightclub owners have expressed their concerns about the <a href="https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/compulsory-vaccine-passports-for-nightclubs-william-wragg">legality</a> of asking their customers to prove their status, while others are worried they could lead to <a href="https://www.thecaterer.com/news/covid-vaccine-passport-hospitality-nightclubs-rules">problems with crowd control</a>. Similar concerns were reported by <a href="https://immunitypassportsdesign.org/2021/06/07/first-series-of-focus-groups-concluded/">studies</a> which attempted to understand the use of immunity passports in the UK and across different sectors. </p>
<p>Our work on the design of immunity passports for COVID-19 suggests that a careful consideration of several <a href="https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/poster/Mapping_COVID-19_Health_Certificates_as_a_Complex_System_version_1_1_/14933391?file=28768236">other areas of interest</a> is needed to guarantee their long-term effective use. </p>
<p>When we asked our study participants about their concerns with COVID-19 passports, almost all mentioned worries about data security and possible discrimination against those who did not have “vaccinated” status. </p>
<p>Their responses highlight the need for the government to work with businesses and customers to build greater trust in the certification process. Officials also need to be mindful of managing (and supporting) change into existing business operations. </p>
<p>Involving businesses and their customers in the design process – not as passive consultants but as active creative partners – is key. A more integrated approach will help untangle the complexity of certification, and make sure the final output is as safe and acceptable for as many businesses and their customers as possible.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164606/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Panagiotis Balatsoukas receives funding from the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council for the Immunity Passport Service Design (IMMUNE) project. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gyuchan Thomas Jun receives funding from UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council for the IMMUNE project. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabel Sassoon receives funding from the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council for the Immunity Passport Service Design (IMMUNE) project.</span></em></p>A brief guide for customers and businesses.Panagiotis Balatsoukas, Lecturer in Experience Design for Digital Health, Loughborough UniversityGyuchan Thomas Jun, Lecturer in Human Factors in Complex Systems, Loughborough UniversityIsabel Sassoon, Lecturer in Computer Science, Brunel University LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1596622021-04-28T11:21:51Z2021-04-28T11:21:51ZFour reasons why your tolerance for alcohol can change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397560/original/file-20210428-23-1ttk449.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C4384%2C2747&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Drinking as much as you used to could lead to greater intoxication.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-friends-drinking-beer-open-face-1904284618">View Apart/ Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As pubs and bars reopen across England, many are excited about the opportunity to enjoy a drink with friends and family. While some evidence suggests alcohol consumption <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/one-in-three-adults-drank-more-alcohol-during-first-lockdown">increased during lockdown</a>, other reports suggest that over <a href="https://alcoholchange.org.uk/blog/2020/covid19-drinking-during-lockdown-headline-findings">one in three adults</a> drank less – or stopped altogether. </p>
<p>But though we may be excited to get back to the pub, our tolerance may be lower than it was pre-lockdown.</p>
<p>Regularly drinking a certain amount of alcohol (for example, having four pints every Friday evening after work) can lead to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20051223102353/https:/pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa28.htm">increased tolerance</a>. This is where the brain adapts to the effects of alcohol (such as relaxation and improved mood), and over time more alcohol is needed to achieve the same effects. </p>
<p>In this scenario you may need to drink five pints to get the same initial “buzz” you got from four pints. Tolerance is a <a href="https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/alcohol-use-disorder-comparison-between-dsm">hallmark feature of addiction</a>. But it can also develop with regular and continued alcohol use in social drinkers.</p>
<p>Following a period of reduced alcohol use or abstinence, alcohol tolerance can decrease to levels before regular use. This means that your brain and body are “out of practice” in terms of processing and responding to alcohol. Alcohol tolerance can be explained via <a href="https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/aa28.htm">several mechanisms</a> – but here are four ways that tolerance may develop and change.</p>
<h2>1. Functional tolerance</h2>
<p>As we drink over the course of an evening the amount of <a href="https://www.alcohol.org/effects/blood-alcohol-concentration/">alcohol in our bloodstream</a> increases, leading to slower reaction times, lowered inhibitions and impaired judgement. Large amounts of alcohol cause slurred speech, lack of coordination and blurred vision. </p>
<p>People who regularly drink any amount of alcohol can become tolerant to these impairments and show few signs of intoxication – even when there are large amounts of alcohol in their bloodstream. If these drinkers stop or reduce their alcohol consumption, this tolerance could be lost.</p>
<p>But if they start drinking at their previous levels again, alcohol-related impairments in cognition and behaviour could return – but after having smaller amounts of alcohol. These changes in tolerance reflect the brain’s desensitisation (increased tolerance) and resensitisation (reduced tolerance) to alcohol at the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0196064486801196">cellular level</a>.</p>
<h2>2. Environmental-dependent tolerance</h2>
<p>Tolerance can develop much more quickly if alcohol is always consumed in the same environment – for example, if you only drank at home during lockdown. This is a sub-type of functional tolerance.</p>
<p>This is because familiar “cues” – such as your home setting – are repeatedly paired with alcohol’s effects. This leads to a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2270057/">conditioned compensatory response</a>. This response counters alcohol’s impairing effects, and we may not feel as “intoxicated” as a result.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young man drinks a bottle of beer with a snack at night in front of his computer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397563/original/file-20210428-25-1lrogu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/397563/original/file-20210428-25-1lrogu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397563/original/file-20210428-25-1lrogu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397563/original/file-20210428-25-1lrogu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397563/original/file-20210428-25-1lrogu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397563/original/file-20210428-25-1lrogu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/397563/original/file-20210428-25-1lrogu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If you’re used to drinking at home, drinking in the pub could lead to feeling more intoxicated.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/handsome-man-working-remotely-sitting-home-1942494121">Jelena Zelen/ Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But when we drink in a new environment – such as going to the pub for the first time in six months – the compensatory response is not activated, making us more prone to experiencing alcohol’s effects. So even if you’ve still been consuming large amounts of alcohol at home during lockdown, you may find you feel alcohol’s effects to a greater degree when drinking the same amount as normal in a pub or bar.</p>
<h2>3. Learned tolerance</h2>
<p>Developing tolerance can be sped up if we repeatedly perform the same task or activity under the influence of alcohol.</p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00421426">Studies of rats</a> have shown that animals trained to navigate a maze while intoxicated actually performed better and were more [tolerant to the effects of the alcohol] than those who didn’t receive alcohol during training.</p>
<p>In humans, this type of tolerance can be shown in the performance of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42545425">well-practiced games</a> played under the influence of alcohol. For example, an person who typically plays darts sober would likely experience impairment in performance if intoxicated. But if a person regularly drinks while playing darts, they may experience no alcohol-related impairment because of their <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S074183299190221H">learned tolerance</a>.</p>
<p>If you regularly played darts or pool at the pub prior to lockdown, a loss of learned tolerance could mean that you don’t play as well as you used to when you have a game after a few drinks.</p>
<h2>4. Metabolic tolerance</h2>
<p>While the other three types of tolerance focus on alcohol’s effects on the brain, metabolic tolerance refers instead to the rapid elimination of alcohol from the body following prolonged or heavy alcohol consumption. </p>
<p>Repeated alcohol use causes the liver to become <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3484320/">more “efficient” at eliminating alcohol</a> from the body. This results in a reduction of alcohol in the bloodstream, alongside its intoxicating effects. Similar to functional tolerance, as metabolic tolerance develops, a greater amount of alcohol is needed to experience the same effects as you experienced initially. </p>
<p>So drinking lower amounts of alcohol during lockdown could mean that your liver is less effective at “clearing” alcohol from the body. As a result, you’ll feel the intoxicating effects even from lower amounts of alcohol. Equally, increased alcohol consumption during lockdown could lead to increased metabolic tolerance, where a greater amount of alcohol is needed to feel intoxicated. </p>
<p>Tolerance is an important factor in understanding our drinking habits. It’s also important to remember that drinking as much as you used to after a period of drinking less (or not at all) could lead to greater intoxication, blackout and accidents. So if you plan to head back to the pub with friends now that lockdown is over, be mindful of how your drinking has changed so you can stay safe and enjoy that first tipple.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159662/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Adams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tolerance happens when the brain adapts to the effects of alcohol – eventually causing us to need more to achieve the same effects.Sally Adams, Lecturer in Health Psychology, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1546092021-04-09T13:01:36Z2021-04-09T13:01:36ZPubs are reopening but research shows contact tracing still isn’t working – here’s how to fix it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394253/original/file-20210409-17-1akn2pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C21%2C4765%2C2919&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Every customer must sign in when pubs reopen.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-people-toasting-beer-wearing-open-1937176303">View Apart/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Contact tracing is vital to supporting public safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. But rather than providing truthful information, it seems many people lie when asked to provide their contact details. Police officers in Australia, for example, have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/11/privacy-concerns-over-australian-businesses-collecting-data-for-covid-contact-tracing">complained</a> that people have been writing the names “Donald Duck” and “Mickey Mouse” on contact tracing forms. </p>
<p>Governments need to be able to fully trace citizens who have been exposed to COVID-19, and without the correct contact information, it’s impossible to do this. And it could potentially pose a serious threat to public safety when more restrictions are lifted and when the third lockdown in the UK properly comes to an end.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.102867">Our new research</a> looks at people’s experiences of contract tracing and how to improve the system to ensure everyone’s health and safety. We conducted studies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US. Initially, we surveyed 240 participants and found that most of them (74%) encountered contact tracing at hospitality venues. But that only 24% of them provided correct and complete information each time. About 68% chose their reluctance to cooperate was due to their concerns about privacy.</p>
<p>Next, we interviewed participants to address their privacy concerns. And also found what would help customers to better cooperate and have more trust when their personal information is collected and stored. Lastly, we conducted another survey with 365 participants to test our ideas. </p>
<h2>Reassurance about data needed</h2>
<p>We found that one of the reasons many people ended up giving false information is because they don’t feel fully comfortable giving their personal details but they still wanted to be polite and helpful. So in giving a false name, it allows them to fulfil the request without causing any problems or making a scene. </p>
<p>We also heard from our participants that if businesses showed how their contact details would actually be stored and gave a better sense of their capability to handle contact tracing professionally, they would feel more inclined to comply with the request. This makes a lot of sense because, of course, many people are scared about data breaches and privacy invasion. So they care about the business’s ability and professionalism to manage their information. </p>
<p>Our research shows that people are more likely to share their truthful information if they have confidence in a business’s competence to manage their data. One thing that people we spoke to mentioned was for businesses to make sure that contact tracing spreadsheets are not misused (many women <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/test-trace-used-harass-women-already/">have reported</a> being harassed after handing over their contact details) and can’t be seen by other <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-14/covid-confusion-as-cafes-warned-about-privacy-dangers/12351314">customers</a>. </p>
<h2>Government backing is key</h2>
<p>It’s also clear that contact tracing should not be <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-31/covid-19-check-in-data-using-qr-codes-raises-privacy-concerns/12823432">outsourced to companies</a> with unclear privacy rules. Instead, it should be supported by governments. We found that if governments support contact tracing through strong data protection regulation and technology, people feel safe to disclose truthful information. </p>
<p>In this way then, governments can play a big role in helping to encourage people to cooperate with contact tracing at hospitality venues. And they can do this by <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/venues-required-by-law-to-record-contact-details">requiring businesses</a> to follow strong data protection policies. Governments can also enforce penalties if companies do not follow the rules.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People queuing outside a pub." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394254/original/file-20210409-17-hanevb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394254/original/file-20210409-17-hanevb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394254/original/file-20210409-17-hanevb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394254/original/file-20210409-17-hanevb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394254/original/file-20210409-17-hanevb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394254/original/file-20210409-17-hanevb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394254/original/file-20210409-17-hanevb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">With pubs about to reopen again, it’s feared case numbers could begin to rise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-england-may-31-2020-traditional-1745736242">Chaz Bharj/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The process needs to be standardised</h2>
<p>Another thing that came up time and time again from our participants was the fact that businesses have different contact tracing systems – making it hard to fully trust how each method works. This is then more likely to lead to people giving false information to avoid engaging with each system.</p>
<p>This is why contact tracing needs to be a standardised process no matter which hospitality venue people visit. For example, <a href="https://www.restaurantnz.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Level-2-Guidelines-for-operating-_PublicHealthOrder_v7_.pdf">the Restaurant Association of New Zealand</a> has taken the lead in providing support for restaurants and cafes to conduct standardised contact tracing. This has helped to gain more cooperation from people as they know what to expect at each venue.</p>
<h2>Word of mouth helps</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102815">Research</a> shows that people rely on others’ words as “social proof” to guide their own behaviours. This is known as the “bandwagon effect”. And in terms of contact tracing essentially means that people will feel less sceptical about sharing their information when they’ve been told by others that contact tracing is important and safe. </p>
<p>This is why governments and businesses should launch <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/contact-tracing-comms-graphics.html#slows-spread">social media campaigns</a> to encourage people to share their positive thoughts about contact tracing. With positive word of mouth, more and more people will accept contact tracing as a new social norm. And as a result others will be more likely to follow in their footsteps and disclose truthful information.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154609/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What restaurants, bars and pubs can do to help people happily hand over their data.Donia Waseem, Lecturer in Marketing, University of BradfordJoseph Chen, Lecturer/assistant professor in Marketing, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1545852021-02-19T11:09:27Z2021-02-19T11:09:27ZBritish people are really missing the pub – here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382733/original/file-20210205-21-1jf7cgj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3100%2C1963&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-happy-friends-drinking-toasting-beer-1085215253">View Apart/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The events of the past year have had a <a href="https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2020/09/14/How-many-pubs-have-closed-by-September-2020">devastating impact</a> on the hospitality sector in the UK. At the forefront of lockdown’s sacrifices for many is the closure of an institution that is a cornerstone of british culture – the pub. </p>
<p>An <a href="https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2020/12/09/How-many-pubs-closed-in-2020">estimated 2500 pubs</a> closed during 2020, accelerating an already <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/british-pubs-closing-how-we-can-save-them-138877">existing trend</a> prior to COVID-19. While the likes of celebrity pub owner <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/long-reads/saving-britains-pubs-tom-kerridge-interview-second-lockdown-pubs-745962">Tom Kerridge</a> and beer writer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/23/pubs-britain-fabric-properly-helped-lockdown-locals">Pete Brown</a> lead efforts to raise awareness about the plight of Britain’s pubs, many people find themselves <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/features/pubs-stay-closed-may-will-miss-much-just-beer/">longing for the unique atmosphere</a> of their favourite “local”.</p>
<p>What people miss most about pubs right now has little to do with buying and drinking alcohol – after all, those habits have continued largely unhindered in the form of <a href="https://alcoholchange.org.uk/blog/2020/drinking-in-the-uk-during-lockdown-and-beyond">home drinking</a>. Instead, it’s the opportunity to be around and interact with other people.</p>
<p>Pubs are recognised as <a href="https://theconversation.com/rural-pubs-really-do-make-countryside-communities-happier-but-they-are-closing-at-an-alarming-rate-72231">important assets</a> to their communities, providing economic and <a href="http://beergroupinquiry.com/index.html">social value</a> alike. They’re also an excellent example of what the American scholar Ray Oldenburg calls the “third place”, a space other than the home or workplace where people meet to interact and maintain relationships.</p>
<p>These spaces were hugely valuable but increasingly under threat even before COVID-19, with the existance of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/04/britain-shared-spaces-pubs-youth-clubs-libraries-austerity">pubs, youth clubs and libraries</a> already impacted by recent years of austerity policies and technological changes. But well-run pubs offer something that, in spite of some admirable efforts like <a href="https://camra.org.uk/press_release/camra-invites-new-labour-leader-for-a-pint-down-the-virtual-pub/">virtual pubs</a>, is difficult to recreate at home: a truly offline, in-person social experience.</p>
<h2>Social interaction</h2>
<p>Even before the pandemic, loneliness was <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2yzhfv4DvqVp5nZyxBD8G23/who-feels-lonely-the-results-of-the-world-slargest-loneliness-study">widespread in Britain</a>. </p>
<p>Through a collaboration with the <a href="https://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/about-the-campaign/">Campaign to End Loneliness</a>, I’ve been researching the role that pubs play in tackling social isolation and loneliness. The <a href="https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/report/Open_arms_the_role_of_pubs_in_tackling_loneliness/13663715">resulting report</a> highlights the important social role that pubs play in bringing people together and fostering meaningful and valuable social interaction. Pubs are about much more than getting drunk.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man drinking alone at a table in a pub" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382734/original/file-20210205-17-1iitxc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382734/original/file-20210205-17-1iitxc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382734/original/file-20210205-17-1iitxc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382734/original/file-20210205-17-1iitxc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382734/original/file-20210205-17-1iitxc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382734/original/file-20210205-17-1iitxc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382734/original/file-20210205-17-1iitxc8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Groups most at risk of isolation and loneliness, such as older men living alone after retirement or divorce, tend to benefit from going to the pub.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/brussels-belgium-apr-2-older-man-1073108027">Radiokafka/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Conducted before the pandemic, my research highlights the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41978-020-00068-x">variety of social interaction</a> that took place in pubs. This ranges from the “swift pint” to leisurely lunches with friends and close family as part of daytime outings, or to mark celebrations.</p>
<p>For others, pub going involved activities such as book groups, craft classes and <a href="https://pintofscience.co.uk/">public talks</a>, which <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-book-clubs-to-the-archers-how-to-reinvigorate-the-local-village-pub-129673">many pubs offered</a>. A number of participants also spoke of visiting pubs frequently but rarely drinking alcohol. For these people, good tea and coffee, a range of soft drinks and well-priced food were reasons to visit the pub.</p>
<p>The social aspect of going to the pub helps to provide opportunities for beneficial social interaction, which many people of different ages and backgrounds currently struggle to find elsewhere. Face-to-face interaction also helps to <a href="https://camra.org.uk/campaign_resources/friends-on-tap-a-report-for-camra/">build and maintain friendships</a> and social connections that serve as <a href="https://theconversation.com/loneliness-has-serious-health-risks-and-the-solution-is-social-23638">important protection</a> against the harmful effects of loneliness. This is particularly true for groups most at risk of social isolation and loneliness, such as <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/policybristol/PolicyBristol-PolicyReport-51-Apr2019-OMAM.pdf">older men</a> living alone after retirement or divorce.</p>
<p>As one retiree in his 70s told me, a trip to the pub could give him the chance of “being with people”. He said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There’s nothing I like better than being able to talk to people […] not just about silly things but having a good laugh and, you know, generally speaking, bringing yourself out of what you’ve been doing and what you haven’t been doing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Chronic loneliness has been likened to a <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/articles/201803/cure-disconnection">negative feedback loop</a>, where the anxiety and loss of social confidence caused by feeling lonely leads to avoiding social settings, resulting in further isolation. Going to the pub, a socially active and pleasurable activity, can help to create positive reinforcement. Increased socialising builds confidence, which in turn encourages further involvement in social events and local community activities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Bearded grey-haired men drinking alcohol and playing cards at a table with drinks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382735/original/file-20210205-16-epvgs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/382735/original/file-20210205-16-epvgs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382735/original/file-20210205-16-epvgs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382735/original/file-20210205-16-epvgs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382735/original/file-20210205-16-epvgs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382735/original/file-20210205-16-epvgs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/382735/original/file-20210205-16-epvgs4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not everyone goes to the pub for the chance to drink alcohol.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cards-smartphone-bearded-greyhaired-men-drinking-1475757602">Dmytro Zinkevych/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the landlady of a rural village pub told me, the varied activities the pub hosted were “filling a gap” in her village, which otherwise lacked options for residents to interact and bond. Describing the “stitch and natter” craft groups that had proved popular with local residents, she recalled how “we’ve got a couple of ladies that have never done any crafting before and [they are] learning off people”.</p>
<h2>Restorative hospitality</h2>
<p>My findings add new urgency to the wider debates about how best to limit, mitigate or prevent the many damaging effects of social isolation and loneliness. When the pandemic eases, and only when it is safe to do so, it will be important to embrace the role that such social spaces can play. Pubs could even start to offer forms of “restorative hospitality”, where pubs and other public social spaces help to rekindle the social lives disrupted by the pandemic.</p>
<p>While pubs are not the only venues that will likely play this role, they do offer a clear example of the social infrastructure that will need to be preserved or rebuilt following the pandemic. From <a href="https://www.bowltogether.org/">bowling alleys</a> to cafes, the spaces where we come together socially all help build and maintain the social connections that are <a href="https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/loneliness/tips-to-manage-loneliness/">vital to managing loneliness</a>.</p>
<p>If these venues are to offer these services, it’s important to remember that skilled and experienced pub staff are adept at creating introductions between customers that facilitate social interaction and help forge connections that might not otherwise have occurred. </p>
<p>After the pandemic, when pubs can safely reopen, it will be more important than ever that the hospitality sector <a href="https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/food-and-drink/hospitality-minister-boris-johnson-new-cabinet-position-campaign-petition-829643">receives support and recognition</a>. Hearing the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/may/29/the-thing-i-miss-most-in-lockdown-now-pub-beer-gardensgrace-dent">much missed</a> sound of laughter with friends once more will be an important step in the recovery for both people and communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154585/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Thurnell-Read receives funding from the Campaign to End Loneliness. Heineken UK was also a non-funding partner for his research.</span></em></p>Pubs are recognised as important assets to their communities, providing economic and social value alike.Thomas Thurnell-Read, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1459452020-09-10T15:33:42Z2020-09-10T15:33:42ZEat Out to Help Out: crowded restaurants may have driven UK coronavirus spike – new findings<p>England is about <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54093465">to re-impose</a> nationwide restrictions on gatherings to control the spread of COVID-19. This comes less than two weeks after the end of the government’s half-a-billion-pound scheme to get people to eat out in restaurants. Depending on how things go, we may look back on this scheme as the first step towards a second lockdown.</p>
<p>During August, the UK government ran the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-a-discount-with-the-eat-out-to-help-out-scheme">Eat Out to Help Out scheme</a> to get cash into the hands of hospitality businesses, boost confidence and encourage people back to the high street. </p>
<p>The government offered restaurant-goers a 50% discount on their meal, up to £10 per person, to eat out on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Over the month, the <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/taxpayers-pick-up-522m-eat-out-bill-5xlpz3g9d#:%7E:text=Britons%20had%20more%20than%20100,Mondays%20and%20Wednesdays%20last%20month.">government spent</a> £522 million of taxpayers’ money on more than 100 million of these subsidised meals. </p>
<p>Now that the scheme is over we can see if it achieved the government’s goals.</p>
<h2>People ate out</h2>
<p>It is hard to analyse a scheme like Eat Out to Help Out because people’s activity is volatile for numerous reasons. At the start of July, restaurants were still closed – under government orders. </p>
<p>By the start of August, people were beginning to go out again. So when looking at data in August, the question is: are any changes caused by the scheme, or do they reflect the gradual reopening after the lockdown was lifted in early July?</p>
<p>Because the Eat Out scheme only operated Monday to Wednesday, we can compare it to the other days (Thursday to Sunday) and then compare the difference to the long-run trend. Looking at data from <a href="https://www.opentable.com/state-of-industry">OpenTable</a>, a booking app covering thousands of restaurants, the scheme clearly enticed people to eat out (this data reports 2020 dining levels compared with 2019). Indeed, on days when the scheme was active, people ate out nearly twice as often.</p>
<p><strong>UK restaurant dining, July-August 2020</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357481/original/file-20200910-18-2grtte.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph showing UK restaurant dining in July and August" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357481/original/file-20200910-18-2grtte.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357481/original/file-20200910-18-2grtte.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357481/original/file-20200910-18-2grtte.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357481/original/file-20200910-18-2grtte.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357481/original/file-20200910-18-2grtte.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357481/original/file-20200910-18-2grtte.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357481/original/file-20200910-18-2grtte.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Based on OpenTable data, using author's analysis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But we also have to consider the long-term trend: by the start of August, restaurant attendance had already bounced back to near 2019 levels. People were basically going out as normal, so the half-price discount scheme didn’t encourage a “return to normal”; it encouraged extravagant levels of eating out.</p>
<h2>Did it help out?</h2>
<p>When the scheme was announced, the hospitality response was <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e060bb36-b9c4-4cb2-a1cc-4233644cc5a0">pleased but cautious</a>: will people stop eating out on the weekends; what will happen after August? </p>
<p>The OpenTable data suggests people still went out on Thursdays to Sundays. Google mobility data, which reports changes in the volume of trips people take to retail, hospitality, recreation and leisure establishments, paints a similar, if less dramatic, picture in the chart below.</p>
<p><strong>Hospitality/retail/leisure footfall, July-August 2020</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357482/original/file-20200910-23-duuj7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Graph showing mobility levels at retail, hospitality, recreation and leisure establishments in July and August" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357482/original/file-20200910-23-duuj7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357482/original/file-20200910-23-duuj7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357482/original/file-20200910-23-duuj7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357482/original/file-20200910-23-duuj7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357482/original/file-20200910-23-duuj7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357482/original/file-20200910-23-duuj7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357482/original/file-20200910-23-duuj7s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Google mobility data, author's analysis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But when the scheme ended, things went right back to where they would have been. At the start of September there were more outings than at the start of August, but no more than would have been expected based on the long-term trend of reopening. There seems to be virtually no lasting impact on people’s consumption.</p>
<p>How does that compare with the government’s goals? It definitely got cash into the hands of hospitality businesses (in the short term). It also got people back on the high street (on certain days). And did it boost confidence? Perhaps too much.</p>
<h2>Quick fixes have consequences</h2>
<p>At the same time as the scheme was operating, the UK started to see an uptick in COVID-19 cases. This overwhelmed <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54072479">testing capacity</a> and caused some regions to reimpose restrictions.</p>
<p>It’s impossible to know what caused this: people were also coming back from summer holidays and spending more time with friends. Indeed, transmission rates were <a href="https://covid19.who.int/region/euro/country/gb">already creeping up</a> in early August, before there could have been any effect from the Eat Out scheme. But the rapid acceleration in the proportion of detected positive cases at the start of September is consistent with cases where infection occurred in mid-August.</p>
<p>It’s certainly worth considering the effect of a £10 discount at the pub. And the effect of concentrating people’s outings on just three days of the week.</p>
<p><strong>Positive cases as a % of tests carried out</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357506/original/file-20200910-23-69kf01.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing percentage of positive test cases" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357506/original/file-20200910-23-69kf01.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357506/original/file-20200910-23-69kf01.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357506/original/file-20200910-23-69kf01.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357506/original/file-20200910-23-69kf01.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357506/original/file-20200910-23-69kf01.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357506/original/file-20200910-23-69kf01.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357506/original/file-20200910-23-69kf01.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK government data/author's analysis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Looking at the English regions, there is a loose correlation between uptake of the scheme and new cases in the last weeks of August. Again, this isn’t to say that the scheme caused those cases. But it certainly didn’t discourage those people from going out.</p>
<p><strong>Eat Out uptake and COVID transmission by region</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357484/original/file-20200910-24-1bzdi0q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart comparing COVID-19 transmission to uptake of Eat Out to Help Out" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357484/original/file-20200910-24-1bzdi0q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357484/original/file-20200910-24-1bzdi0q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357484/original/file-20200910-24-1bzdi0q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357484/original/file-20200910-24-1bzdi0q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357484/original/file-20200910-24-1bzdi0q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357484/original/file-20200910-24-1bzdi0q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357484/original/file-20200910-24-1bzdi0q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New cases detected in the last two weeks of August, per 100,000 of population.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UK government data/author's analysis</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Footing the bill</h2>
<p>The Eat Out scheme was a creative way to get money to struggling hospitality businesses, and that’s no small feat. But the party comes with a hangover. Businesses that hired new staff to manage extra demand face the prospect of even tighter restrictions (as is already happening <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54072272">in Bolton</a> in north-west England). Not to mention a potential second lockdown, particularly given the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/aug/08/boris-johnson-would-close-pubs-before-schools-in-local-covid-19-lockdown">“pubs or schools”</a> debate, with the government indicating it would sooner close pubs and restaurants if forced to choose.</p>
<p>In future, policymakers should heed the lessons from this experience. Rather than trying to encourage a big-bang “back to normal”, governments should settle in for the long haul: encouraging and establishing patterns of behaviour that are safe and consistent with a pandemic.</p>
<p>If the goal is to financially support businesses, many countries have simply continued to give them loans, debt relief or payroll subsidies. If the goal is to get people out and spending on high streets, policies should be designed to keep people spread out (for example, allowing people to spread consumption across the week, and including take-out).</p>
<p>And if the goal is to boost confidence so that people return to normal, well maybe we just can’t do that yet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145945/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Toby Phillips does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why UK government would have been wiser to either stick to pure business subsidies or offer its August restaurant scheme seven days a week.Toby Phillips, Public Policy Researcher, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1437592020-08-03T14:11:35Z2020-08-03T14:11:35ZHow lockdown changed people’s feelings about drinking and going back to the pub<p>Among the raft of changes following the UK’s coronavirus lockdown in March 2020 was the closure of pubs – an integral part of British cultural life. While the <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/economy-business/economy-economy/last-orders-the-decline-of-pubs-around-the-uk/#:%7E:text=The%20fall%20of%20national%20pub%20figures&text=BBPA%20has%20estimated%20the%20number,pub%20numbers%20fell%20by%2012%25.">1990s heyday of pubs is long gone</a>, they remain unique spaces where people can meet in a familiar environment and <a href="https://es.britsoc.co.uk/why-now-is-the-time-for-pubs-to-become-a-staple-of-sociological-research/">feel connected to a community</a>. They also offer a culturally sanctioned space to consume large quantities of alcohol.</p>
<p>As academics who research people’s drinking habits, our attention immediately turned to how lockdown affected how much alcohol people are consuming. There’s been increasing <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1987">concern about lockdown-induced harmful drinking</a> and how this should be addressed as part of lockdown recovery. <a href="https://alcoholchange.org.uk/blog/2020/drinking-in-the-uk-during-lockdown-and-beyond">The latest survey findings</a> suggest that more than one in four people drank more than usual during lockdown. </p>
<p>But our interviews with people over lockdown paint a more mixed picture. Part of some unpublished research we’re still working on, they suggest that, although many people missed pubs, they are not necessarily ready to rush back to those that have reopened.</p>
<h2>Home drinking vs going dry in lockdown</h2>
<p>During lockdown, we’ve been interviewing a cross-section of UK society about their drinking habits. All self-defined as people who “drank socially” prior to lockdown, although there was some variation in people’s pre-lockdown drinking practices (from the odd drink at home to daily drinking or regular pubbing and clubbing), and in the ways they are drinking during lockdown. </p>
<p>For some, the unsettling experience of unstructured daily routines and lockdown-induced stress seemed to contribute to drinking more (and more often) during lockdown. One implication of pubs shutting may be a gradual acclimatisation to drinking at home. Following the rise in alcohol sales in shops, health professionals and academics have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7295462/">voiced concerns</a> about increased solitary drinking during lockdown due to boredom or to ease stress.</p>
<p>Our data tentatively mirrors some of these concerns. Mel*, a 37-year-old furloughed project manager with a young daughter was surprised to find that she was drinking five or six nights a week compared to three or four before lockdown, with alcohol helping her to relax and break up the day during the pandemic. </p>
<p>But others we spoke to used lockdown as an opportunity to stop drinking altogether. And some found moderate (or reduced) alcohol consumption more achievable <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/apr/16/one-three-drinking-less-lockdown-uk-survey-alcohol">and attractive than pre-lockdown</a> thanks to the closure of pubs and lack of socialising. </p>
<p>Some of our interviewees said they only drank socially and reported having been galvanised to cut back or quit booze altogether, without fearing the social repercussions that might have accompanied this choice pre-lockdown. For example, Alison, a 41-year-old lecturer and relatively regular pub goer, had used lockdown as an opportunity to “get healthy” by stopping drinking almost completely, changing her diet and exercising.</p>
<p>Whether or not they will continue this post-lockdown is another matter. Research <a href="https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/all-together">suggests</a> that maintaining any healthier lifestyle changes (around alcohol, stopping smoking and exercise) may be easier for people in more privileged and financially stable situations. </p>
<h2>The virtual pub</h2>
<p>Some of our participants who expressed a reluctance to drink alone and missed the sociability of going to pubs talked about the value of connecting virtually, drinking with friends or family on video calls during lockdown. Our own previous research shows lots of links between <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955395919301975?casa_token=IDt4NmBZOEgAAAAA:vPtDjagu1C29vNupZ86Ly3JdBUy-mdqrXQQlD71Qtiryw8zXDbh7zgVjvhFmycxvf0Cyv4SN">alcohol use and friendships</a> and the accounts of our participants partly concern alcohol’s positive role in facilitating intimacy and connection during online meetings in lockdown. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman drinks wine in front of laptop showing video call." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350882/original/file-20200803-20-17deemi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350882/original/file-20200803-20-17deemi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350882/original/file-20200803-20-17deemi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350882/original/file-20200803-20-17deemi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350882/original/file-20200803-20-17deemi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350882/original/file-20200803-20-17deemi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350882/original/file-20200803-20-17deemi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Drinking is often a social activity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/crop-female-sitting-glass-wine-table-1741968548">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some talked about attempts to recreate the pub environment at home, even calling their online meet-ups “the virtual pub”. They also ran pub quizzes online and two creative housemates we spoke to created a nightclub in their garden shed, decking the space out with lights and playing loud music. </p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/dar.12610">Research</a> shows that not drinking when others are can come with negative consequences such as the judgement of others, feelings of missing out and social exclusion. So while having virtual pub or nightclub sessions may have helped people relax, they could also involve pressure to drink alcohol.</p>
<h2>Last orders?</h2>
<p>Even those who enjoyed virtual pubbing tended to report that nothing could quite recreate the real pub. Our interviewees expressed how they missed face-to-face socialising and the opportunity to try sips of one another’s ales. In this sense, the reopening of pubs was sometimes met with enthusiasm. </p>
<p>Others were aware that the reopening of pubs does not signify a return to normality. Pubs that have reopened have strict social-distancing measures in place. There are apps to reserve tables and order drinks, along with strict rules about the proximity of bar gatherings. So pubs are not currently places where spontaneous, intimate and fluid interactions are possible. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, some of our interviewees expressed ambivalence or concern about returning to the local pub. Lois, 58, for example, questioned whether pubs operating under these new conditions are really authentic pubs, and expressed worries about the safety of being back in these spaces (particularly as one of her regular pub friends has been shielding at home). These are important considerations and it remains to be seen when – if indeed ever – pubs will be the pubs that we knew before as we navigate the post-lockdown world. </p>
<p><em>*Names have been changed.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143759/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Nicholls has previously received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for a PhD studentship.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic Conroy previously (2011-2014) received PhD Studentship funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). </span></em></p>Interviews reveal why some people drank more during lockdown and others gave up alcohol altogether.Emily Nicholls, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of PortsmouthDominic Conroy, Lecturer in Psychology, University of East LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1381282020-07-08T19:47:05Z2020-07-08T19:47:05ZWhy heritage protection is about how people use places, not just their architecture and history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346221/original/file-20200707-194409-sepm5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5991%2C3988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/melbourne-australia-nov-10-2018-people-1502889020">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The roar of the crowd at the stadium. Jostling to see the New Year fireworks in the public square. Captivated by the band at the pub. Meeting mates outside the train station. These experiences conjure sites of importance for each of us.</p>
<p>As a Melburnian, places that come to mind for me are the MCG, Federation Square, Flinders Street Station and Festival Hall. Sydneysiders could be thinking about the <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/223371661">Opera House</a>, Central Station, the Enmore Theatre and Homebush Stadium. </p>
<p>It’s people that make these places important. Without crowds, an idling Gabba in Brisbane or an empty Cottesloe Beach in Perth is a less exciting place.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-can-a-17-year-old-place-gain-heritage-status-what-this-means-for-melbournes-fed-square-122455">How can a 17-year-old place gain heritage status? What this means for Melbourne's Fed Square</a>
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<p>Each of the above places possesses outstanding social value. It’s why state heritage laws and local planning schemes can protect places of community importance. </p>
<p>However, this <a href="https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/en/publications/contested-space-social-value-and-the-assessment-of-cultural-signi">does not happen enough</a>. Of more than 2,300 items on the <a href="https://heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/heritage-protection/levels-of-protection/">Victorian Heritage Register</a>, for instance, about 10% are listed for their social value. </p>
<p>Although data are scarce, the numbers are likely similar for heritage lists across Australia. This leaves treasured meeting places – <a href="https://theconversation.com/once-a-building-is-destroyed-can-the-loss-of-a-place-like-the-corkman-be-undone-112864">neighbourhood pubs are a prime example</a> – at risk.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345213/original/file-20200702-111318-1ox1o7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345213/original/file-20200702-111318-1ox1o7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345213/original/file-20200702-111318-1ox1o7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345213/original/file-20200702-111318-1ox1o7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345213/original/file-20200702-111318-1ox1o7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345213/original/file-20200702-111318-1ox1o7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345213/original/file-20200702-111318-1ox1o7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345213/original/file-20200702-111318-1ox1o7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Interactions between people and places over time give places their cultural heritage significance.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://photos.aap.com.au/search/sydney%20opera%20house%20forecourt">Joel Carrett/AAP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With restrictions on public gatherings, urban heritage places of social significance have more allure than ever. Just as we are distanced from each other, we are separated from these places. Their temporary absence in our lives, and the sense of community and comforting memories we associate with them, only add to their cultural significance.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-dont-know-what-weve-got-till-its-gone-we-must-reclaim-public-space-lost-to-the-coronavirus-crisis-135817">We don’t know what we’ve got till it’s gone – we must reclaim public space lost to the coronavirus crisis</a>
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<p>However, heritage typically gives more priority to the historic and aesthetic integrity of older fabric, buildings and structures than to ongoing social and cultural relationships <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342624259_Place_and_Heritage_Conservation">between people and built places</a>. </p>
<p>A lack of participatory methods to involve the public in heritage decisions is another problem with how authorities and the private sector manage the cultural values of historic places. </p>
<h2>Two landmark cases</h2>
<p>For more than a century, authorities <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/220585029">typically safeguarded</a> monumental architecture and places embodying the <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/44846813">apparent progress of the Australian nation</a>, such as public buildings and memorials.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-kind-of-state-values-a-freeways-heritage-above-the-heritage-of-our-oldest-living-culture-122195">What kind of state values a freeway's heritage above the heritage of our oldest living culture?</a>
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<p>Since the 1970s, <a href="https://australia.icomos.org/publications/charters/">additional cultural values</a> – social, scientific and spiritual – have been inscribed in heritage practice. Yet, as I explore in <a href="https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=997484554716146;res=IELAPA">my research</a>, traditional ideas of aesthetic and historic value have been privileged in conservation. Other significant cultural values have not been treated as equally important.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-internet-is-reshaping-world-heritage-and-our-experience-of-it-92682">How the internet is reshaping World Heritage and our experience of it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The introduction of social value saved Flinders Street Station when it was threatened with demolition in 1972 for high-rise development. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333975/original/file-20200511-49584-eahqrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333975/original/file-20200511-49584-eahqrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333975/original/file-20200511-49584-eahqrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333975/original/file-20200511-49584-eahqrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333975/original/file-20200511-49584-eahqrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333975/original/file-20200511-49584-eahqrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333975/original/file-20200511-49584-eahqrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/333975/original/file-20200511-49584-eahqrx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Model of Flinders Gate Project, 1974.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wolfgang Sievers/State Library of Victoria (reproduced with SLV permission)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The National Trust wanted to preserve the train station. But its <a href="https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=997484554716146;res=IELAPA">committee of architects</a> perceived it as an “architectural monstrosity” because its Edwardian Baroque style was out of favour.</p>
<p>After long deliberations, the National Trust deemed the station a </p>
<blockquote>
<p>landmark […] a major focal point of Melbourne’s city life [with] the Clocks! section [sic] inextricably bound to the social fabric of Melbourne and Victoria. </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334232/original/file-20200512-66707-1yumqxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334232/original/file-20200512-66707-1yumqxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334232/original/file-20200512-66707-1yumqxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334232/original/file-20200512-66707-1yumqxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334232/original/file-20200512-66707-1yumqxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334232/original/file-20200512-66707-1yumqxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334232/original/file-20200512-66707-1yumqxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The famous clocks overlook the intersection of Flinders and Swanston streets, pictured here in the early 1970s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rennie Ellis/State Library of Victoria (reproduced with SLV permission)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So Flinders Street Station was protected for its lasting importance to Melburnians. Only later would it be recognised for its architecture.</p>
<p>Despite its social value, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-10/science-of-flinders-street-station-new-look-paint/9135080">when the station was repainted</a> in original colours in 2017, there was little public engagement in this decision. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494412000424">Research</a> on people’s perceptions of historic places has shown they often prefer agedness and wornness over traditional conservation works that make places look new again: the <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=0y9jCHHdKokC&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=%22patina+of+age%22+ruskin&source=bl&ots=7C2jBgWES3&sig=ACfU3U2AjpX-Zcee--19v8t1KMOfx76CIQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiZhe_zh67qAhWCyDgGHUEKAtQQ6AEwAnoECDAQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22patina%20of%20age%22%20ruskin&f=false">patina of age</a> has value. <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429506352">Public participation</a> could have resulted in a different conservation decision based on Melburnians’ preferred colours and textures.</p>
<p>Another landmark case involves the MCG. Authorities rejected a comprehensive heritage listing for the stadium in the 1980s, when the Great Southern Stand was developed, because a listing might have prevented redevelopment. </p>
<p>The MCG designation was reconsidered, however, in the lead-up to the 2006 Commonwealth Games. It then met revised thresholds to be fully state-listed. It was “<a href="https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/126894666/">the matches and public not the buildings</a>” that created the heritage importance. </p>
<p>And to retain the cultural importance of the MCG in the future lives of Melburnians, flexibility on the stands was required. With the support of club members and heritage authorities, the <a href="https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/64493">1928 Members’ Pavilion</a> made way for the new Northern Stand.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336626/original/file-20200521-102667-ajzwnp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/336626/original/file-20200521-102667-ajzwnp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336626/original/file-20200521-102667-ajzwnp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336626/original/file-20200521-102667-ajzwnp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336626/original/file-20200521-102667-ajzwnp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336626/original/file-20200521-102667-ajzwnp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/336626/original/file-20200521-102667-ajzwnp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ian Harrison Hill, ‘Demolition of Members’ Stand [Melbourne Cricket Ground]’, photograph, 2004.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Library of Victoria, Pictures Collection, H2004.24/4 (reproduced with the permission of the State Library of Victoria and Ian Harrison Hill)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heritage-value-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder-why-fed-square-deserves-protection-100895">Heritage value is in the eye of the beholder: why Fed Square deserves protection</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Social value in the past, present and future</h2>
<p>At the MCG, social value was projected into the future, allowing for flexibility during redevelopment. </p>
<p>At Flinders Street Station, social value was perceived as developing in the past. The recent station works demonstrated that, even when public places are heritage-listed, their management often does not include participatory methods.</p>
<p>Neighbourhood pubs, which are being <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/interactive/2017/last-drinks/">rapidly redeveloped</a>, are another form of at-risk public place with great social value. Pubs become important to people for their longevity as gathering places, often more so than for their architecture, facades and interiors. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345460/original/file-20200703-33926-1dxq2fv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345460/original/file-20200703-33926-1dxq2fv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345460/original/file-20200703-33926-1dxq2fv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345460/original/file-20200703-33926-1dxq2fv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345460/original/file-20200703-33926-1dxq2fv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345460/original/file-20200703-33926-1dxq2fv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345460/original/file-20200703-33926-1dxq2fv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The now-demolished historic Greyhound Hotel in St Kilda had potential to inspire the public realm in future development works.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Trust of Australia (Victoria)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/once-a-building-is-destroyed-can-the-loss-of-a-place-like-the-corkman-be-undone-112864">Once a building is destroyed, can the loss of a place like the Corkman be undone?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The National Trust is <a href="http://www.trustadvocate.org.au/national-trust-backs-city-of-port-phillip-call-to-protect-social-heritage/">seeking to conserve</a> some pubs. However, authorities have far more power to mandate the continuity of historic places’ built fabric rather than ensuring redevelopments <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2017.1399283">retain community spaces</a>. </p>
<p>Even when this does happen, opportunities can be missed <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/south-east/search-begins-for-venue-managers-for-reborn-london-hotel-in-port-melbourne/news-story/596d9585d7ee7d55c4d697c322a3d11f">to use historic elements of the demolished buildings</a>. Participatory and social approaches to heritage have unrealised potential to guide the design and use of the future public realm.</p>
<p>A major step towards placing people at the heart of heritage would be to mandate and fund a diversity of participatory methods in state and local heritage governance. It’s important, too, to embed community participation across private sector heritage practice. Only by working towards more holistically conserving the broader cultural values of historic places can heritage achieve cultural stewardship for people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138128/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Lesh has received funding from the Australian Government Research Training Program. He has provided conservation expertise to the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) and private heritage consulting firms.</span></em></p>It’s people, in addition to architecture or history, that make some meeting places worthy of heritage protection. Social values are now among the listing criteria, but many such places remain at risk.James Lesh, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Architectural History, Urban and Cultural Heritage, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1420962020-07-07T14:59:15Z2020-07-07T14:59:15ZArts rescue package: don’t forget small venues – they’re where big stars learned their trade<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346108/original/file-20200707-194405-pt8uae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C3000%2C1976&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What if The Beatles hasn't been talent-spotted at The Cavern Club in Liverpool?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">littlenySTOCK via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Icons – and gigs – come in all shapes and sizes. July 6 marks the anniversary of the day that Paul McCartney and John Lennon first met at <a href="https://www.beatlesbible.com/1957/07/06/john-lennon-meets-paul-mccartney/">Woolton Fête in 1957</a>. Sixty-three years later McCartney has played at massive and historic events: Olympic ceremonies, Royal Jubilees, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSoYvI9t3ug">Live Aid</a> and, of course, stadiums and arenas around the world. </p>
<p>In the precarious, socially distanced atmosphere of COVID-19 it’s becoming just about possible to imagine a small outdoor gathering such as Woolten Fête taking place again. But the timeframe for music venues reopening is less certain. This is a major concern – by McCartney’s <a href="https://www.prsformusic.com/m-magazine/news/sir-paul-mccartney-throws-weight-behind-grassroots-venues/">own account</a>, it’s the “grassroots clubs, pubs and music venues” that shaped his craft as a performer. As he said in 2016: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Artists need places to start out, develop and work on their craft and small venues have been the cornerstone for this.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>COVID-19 and the lockdown have imperilled artistic activity and creative industries across the board – and the £1.57 billion rescue package from the UK chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi Sunak, offers much-needed breathing room for museums, venues, cinemas, galleries and theatres alike. </p>
<p>But much will depend on how this is administered – not just across the different art-forms but within these sectors: from the Royal Opera House to the small venues, including the Cavern and the Casbah Coffee Club where the Beatles cut their teeth. From the major cities to the smaller towns. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346117/original/file-20200707-194401-xupv2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346117/original/file-20200707-194401-xupv2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346117/original/file-20200707-194401-xupv2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346117/original/file-20200707-194401-xupv2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346117/original/file-20200707-194401-xupv2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346117/original/file-20200707-194401-xupv2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346117/original/file-20200707-194401-xupv2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">John Lennon’s band The Quarrymen, the day he met Paul McCartney.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Given the scale of the crisis, resources are finite but it’s important, where possible, not to view it as a zero-sum game. A key feature of the relationship between the grassroots clubs, the concert halls and the arenas is interdependence – an <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19401159.2015.1125633">ecology</a> where diversity of venues, as well as music styles, provides not only a pathway for musical careers but a cultural system where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.</p>
<h2>Cultural and economic value</h2>
<p>Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, talks of preserving the “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53302415">crown jewels</a>”, such as the Royal Albert Hall, while the prime minister <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/157-billion-investment-to-protect-britains-world-class-cultural-arts-and-heritage-institutions">spoke of local venues</a>. Both are vital. The grassroots sector has been described as the “<a href="https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/download-file/ACNLPG_Supporting_Grassroots_Live_Music_100519.pdf">research and development</a>” arm of the music industries and without these spaces it will be hard to produce the McCartneys of the future. This is not just a question of star power.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SIdl9mN6yJM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Music is a significant contributor to the UK economy – around £5.2 billion per annum <a href="https://www.ukmusic.org/assets/general/Music_By_Numbers_2019_Report.pdf">according to UK Music</a>. And live music – at £1.1 billion in 2018 – is central to that. The days in which live performances were secondary to recordings have passed. Consumer spend on live music <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09548963.2014.925282">outpaced recordings in 2008</a> and the sector overall – to say nothing of individual careers – relies on the live experience.</p>
<p>To that end, the government’s announcement can be viewed as an investment as much as a bailout, urgently needed though it is. Nor do the economic figures tell the whole story. The UK Live Music Census of 2017 (which I worked on) demonstrated how venues are embedded into their localities, woven throughout the lives of audience members as well as musicians. <a href="http://uklivemusiccensus.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/UK-Live-Music-Census-2017-full-report.pdf">As one respondent told us</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I feel part of something greater as I’ve shared something beautiful with a crowd, even if I haven’t spoken to them; it makes me feel like I’m part of a community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Small venues were also the category that had been most visited by respondents to the audience survey (78% had attended one in the previous 12 months) and this foundation for local and national musical life means that “heritage” spreads out beyond storied concert halls like the Albert Hall. Local live music has been a focus of <a href="http://livemusicexchange.org/wp-content/uploads/Facilitating-Music-Tourism-for-Scotland%E2%80%99s-Creative-Economy-Behr-Ord.pdf">tourism</a> as well as home consumption. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WvnnU-5T-cU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>As the licensee of Camden Town’s Dublin Castle put it when explaining how the venue was simultaneously <a href="http://livemusicexchange.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Cultural-Value-of-Live-Music-Pub-to-Stadium-report.pdf">a community resource and a part of a bigger cultural picture</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We get people travelling from Japan who come to The Dublin Castle because they know that Amy Winehouse played there and she used to frequent the bar. And they sit down and they’re thinking ‘I’m drinking where she drank’. And I think that makes you feel that you’re part of that scene which you want to belong to.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Nurturing the grassroots</h2>
<p>Despite its role in shaping Britain’s musical milieu, the grassroots sector hasn’t had it easy. Under pressure from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/feb/16/uks-first-live-music-census-finds-small-venues-struggling">urban development and gentrification</a>, a spate of closures has led to the realisation that, once lost, these spaces are hard to replace. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cKKjjtys0hM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="http://musicvenuetrust.com/">Music Venue Trust</a>, which played a major role in lobbying for the recent injection of funds, did much to galvanise and give a more unified voice to what had hitherto been quite a disparate group of businesses – something that is, after all, a part of their appeal.</p>
<p>The imminent threat to hundreds of venues might be allayed, then, but they aren’t out of the woods yet. Brexit still looms on the horizon – and recent research has shown that the beyond the problems this may cause <a href="https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/what-affect-has-brexit-had-on-the-music-industry-1-6534435">for touring musicians</a>, there could also be knock-on effects from the cultural sector <a href="https://www2.aston.ac.uk/lss/research/lss-research/aston-centre-europe/projects-grants/blmp-report-i.pdf">to local employment</a> more widely. </p>
<p>A mapping exercise <a href="https://pec.ac.uk/blog/birmingham-live-music-map-in-times-of-covid-19">currently underway in Birmingham</a> demonstrates the difficulty of disentangling the fates of local scenes, national industries and international networks. The chancellor’s rescue package is a vital first step in maintaining the global stepping stones from Woolten Fête to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6DfG7sml-Q">Shea Stadium</a>. It’s important that it isn’t the last.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142096/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Behr has received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p>Chances are your favourite band started out learning the trade at a pub or small club. Venues like this are under threat like never before.Adam Behr, Lecturer in Popular and Contemporary Music, Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1417252020-07-02T13:27:29Z2020-07-02T13:27:29ZDecline of the English pub: coronavirus compounded the industry’s problems<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345100/original/file-20200701-159820-1ue04is.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C4354%2C2667&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-may-5-interior-pub-drinking-104693144">Bikeworldtravel/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Coronavirus has had an unprecedented impact on pubs in Britain. The British Beer and Pub Association estimates that the industry lost over <a href="https://beerandpub.com/2020/06/18/more-than-50-beer-and-pub-businesses-write-to-prime-minister-demanding-a-definitive-reopening-date-for-all-pubs-by-friday-as-sector-hits-crisis-point/">£100m each month</a> of lockdown. </p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of staff were placed on the government’s job retention scheme, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/may/15/lockdowned-pubs-forced-to-pour-70m-pints-of-beer-down-the-drain-coronavirus">70 million pints</a> of unused beer have been destroyed. </p>
<p>The “super Saturday” reopening in England on July 4 has been hailed as a new dawn for pubs. However, the industry will have to cope with more than social distancing and other challenges related to the coronavirus pandemic. While this crisis has created new problems, the British pub industry was already experiencing long-term decline. </p>
<h2>Big business</h2>
<p>Tens of thousands of pubs have closed since the 1980s, with more than 5,000 pubs lost in the <a href="https://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2020/03/britains-bar-and-pub-closure-rate-drops-2/">last five years</a>. While changing economic and cultural conditions have contributed to the industry’s decline, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02642060802188007">research</a> suggests that there is <a href="https://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/handle/10443/3874">another contributor</a> – pub companies.</p>
<p>Pub companies, or “pubcos”, lease pub properties to tenants, who are then contractually obliged to pay rent and purchase supplies from the pub company. This is known as the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/31/tied-up-pub-landlords-battle-law-that-was-meant-to-help-them">beer-tie</a>, an agreement that forces tenants to buy beer from their pubco and prevents them from accessing the open market. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345279/original/file-20200702-111305-1ejzgm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345279/original/file-20200702-111305-1ejzgm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345279/original/file-20200702-111305-1ejzgm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345279/original/file-20200702-111305-1ejzgm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345279/original/file-20200702-111305-1ejzgm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345279/original/file-20200702-111305-1ejzgm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345279/original/file-20200702-111305-1ejzgm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A beer-tie agreement compels pub landlords to buy supplies from their pubco.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-pints-ale-beer-typical-traditional-490783234">JennyMB/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pubcos borrow money to buy pubs, prioritise dividend payments to shareholders, and pay close attention to stock market prices. Their emergence reflects the full-scale “<a href="https://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/handle/10443/3874">financialisation</a>” of the industry. The term financialisation refers to the growing dominance of finance throughout the economy and society. </p>
<p>By 2007, one of the largest pubcos – <a href="https://www.punchpubs.com/">Punch Taverns</a> – owned over 7,000 pubs with <a href="https://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/handle/10443/3874">debts of over £4bn</a>. This borrowing enabled pubcos to expand rapidly during the 1990s. </p>
<p>The pubco model has come under intense scrutiny since the 2008 financial crisis. <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06740/">Pubcos have sold pub premises</a> in order to repay debts as consumer spending began to fall under austerity.</p>
<p>Pubco tenants have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278431904000842">voiced concern</a> over high rent and unsustainable beer costs. This is because financialisation places less emphasis on what consumers would expect pubs to do – sell food and drink – and more on growing property values in pub estates and boosting share prices. This has put enormous financial pressures on tenants. During lockdown, tenants have complained of being <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/25/pub-group-owned-by-billionaires-demanding-rent-amid-covid-19-crisis">charged full rent</a> by their pubco despite their inability to trade.</p>
<h2>Socially distanced pints</h2>
<p>When they reopen, pubs will be operating at a reduced capacity as a result of the one-metre-plus social distancing rule. Estimates suggest that pubs will lose about <a href="https://beerandpub.com/2020/06/25/al-fresco-pubs-sector-welcomes-plan-to-increase-outdoor-serving-spaces-as-pubs-face-30-reduction-in-capacity/">30% of trading space</a>, which will limit customer numbers and reduce revenues. </p>
<p>Patrons are also likely to be anxious about returning to pubs. This anxiety surrounds getting to grips with online booking systems, cashless payment apps and table service, as well as the virus itself. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1278367828635193344"}"></div></p>
<p>In addition, while the UK government has introduced legislation enabling alfresco drinking and dining, this will not help everyone. Beer gardens, terraces, and parking lots are not universal across the industry. This variability contributes to the unique charm of pubs, but it also places uneven constraints on how they can successfully adapt to social distancing. </p>
<p>Finally, and most unpredictable, is the British weather. The success of outdoor trading depends on favourable weather conditions not dampening spirits.</p>
<h2>What comes next?</h2>
<p>These challenges will erode the profitability of pubs and exacerbate tensions with indebted pubcos. There are several likely outcomes. One is that social distancing will transform the place of pubs in our society. New rules and regulations will change how we access and experience pubs and interact with one another in them. </p>
<p>Smaller pubs may be particularly at threat. Pubcos have prioritised the ownership of medium (10-24 employees) and large (25 or more employees) premises at the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/articles/economiesofalesmallpubscloseaschainsfocusonbigbars/2018-11-26">expense of smaller ones</a> (fewer than ten employees). Social distancing is likely to amplify this trend, as consumers begin to favour more spacious venues. This will reinforce the growing concentration of larger pubs in urban areas and the relative decline of smaller pubs in outer-city, suburban and commuter belt areas.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345272/original/file-20200702-111368-1sb0d1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345272/original/file-20200702-111368-1sb0d1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345272/original/file-20200702-111368-1sb0d1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345272/original/file-20200702-111368-1sb0d1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345272/original/file-20200702-111368-1sb0d1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345272/original/file-20200702-111368-1sb0d1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345272/original/file-20200702-111368-1sb0d1f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Signal Box Inn, Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire. Small pubs have a particular charm, but social distancing may lead customers to prefer larger venues.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cleethorpes-lincolnshire-uk-march-29-2019-1391161835">LizCoughlan/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The rate of pub closures is almost certain to increase. A combination of unprofitable pubs and persistent debts will inevitably result in pubcos increasing the practice of selling off pub premises.</p>
<p>Financialisation has transformed the industry in recent decades. It looks like coronavirus will now do the same. Social distancing will impact where pubs are, who visits them, and how they are experienced. “Super Saturday” may not be the saviour pubs are hoping for. It will probably be the start of a new period in which the industry begins to look and feel very different.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141725/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liam Keenan received PhD funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p>The rise of big pub companies has led to focus on profits and share prices.Liam Keenan, Lecturer in Economic Geography (T&S), Newcastle UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1415442020-06-26T11:19:52Z2020-06-26T11:19:52ZCoronavirus is taking English pubs back in time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344239/original/file-20200626-104543-1yrekgv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C4%2C997%2C814&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A tapster delivers a frothing tankard to seated alehouse customers in this 1824 etching. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">British Museum</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The announcement by Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, that pubs in England will be allowed to <a href="https://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Article/2020/06/23/Restaurants-and-pubs-can-reopen-on-4-July-with-less-than-two-metre-distancing-Coronavirus-lockdown">resume trading from July 4</a> was greeted with rousing cheers from some. But having a pint in the pandemic era will be slightly different. While two-metre social distancing rules are being relaxed to one metre to ensure economic viability for publicans, to maintain the safety of customers and staff, pubs will where practical be restricted to “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/restaurants-offering-takeaway-or-delivery">table service</a>”. </p>
<p>Standing at the bar is one of the most <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63rcdLeXiU8">cherished rituals</a> of the British pub experience – and <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=table%20service&src=typed_query">many people are worried</a> that the new rules could be the beginning of the end of a tradition that dates back centuries. Except, it doesn’t – the bar as we now know it is of relatively recent vintage and, in many respects, the new regulations are returning us to the practices of a much earlier era.</p>
<p>Before the 19th century, propping up the bar would have been an unfamiliar concept in England’s dense network of alehouses, taverns and inns. Alehouses and taverns in particular were seldom purpose-built, but were instead ordinary dwelling houses made over for commercial hospitality. Only their pictorial signboards and a few items of additional furniture distinguished them from surrounding houses. In particular, there was no bar in the modern sense of a fixed counter over which alcohol could be purchased and served. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Check out: <a href="https://www.intoxicatingspaces.org/">Intoxicating spaces</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>Instead, beverages were ferried directly to seated customers from barrels and bottles in cellars and store rooms by the host and, in larger establishments, drawers, pot-boys, tapsters and waiters. The layout of <a href="https://www.dhi.ac.uk/intoxicants/record.jsp?&source=inventory&inventory_ID=349">Margaret Bowker’s large Manchester alehouse</a> in 1641 is typical: chairs, stools and tables were distributed across the hall, parlours, and chambers, while drink was stored in “hogsheads”, “barrels”, and “rundlets” in her cellar.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344243/original/file-20200626-104480-z0j59m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344243/original/file-20200626-104480-z0j59m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344243/original/file-20200626-104480-z0j59m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344243/original/file-20200626-104480-z0j59m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344243/original/file-20200626-104480-z0j59m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344243/original/file-20200626-104480-z0j59m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344243/original/file-20200626-104480-z0j59m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Five customers receive table service from a tapster in this woodcut illustration from a late 17th-century ballad.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">English Broadside Ballad Archive</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The bar as we know it didn’t emerge organically from these arrangements, but rather from the introduction of a new commodity in the 18th century: <a href="https://www.intoxicatingspaces.org/">gin</a>.
Originally it was imported from the Netherlands and distilled in large quantities domestically from the later decades of the 17th century, but the emergence of a <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/53jj7z/how-a-gin-craze-nearly-destroyed-18th-century-london">mass market for gin in the 1700s</a> gave rise to the specialised gin or dram shop. Found mainly in London – especially in districts such as the East End and south of the river – an innovation of these establishments was a large counter that traversed their width. </p>
<p>Along with a lack of seating, this maximised serving and standing space and encouraged low-value but high-volume turnover from a predominantly poor clientele. The flamboyant gin palaces of the later 18th and early 19th century – described by caricaturist and temperance enthusiast George Cruikshank as “gaudy, gold be-plastered temples” – retained the bar, along with other features drawn from the retail sector such as plate-glass windows, gas lighting, elaborate wrought iron and mahogany fittings, and displays of bottles and glasses. While originally regarded as alien to local drinking cultures, by the 1830s these architectural elements started making their way into all English pubs, with the bar literally front and centre.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344244/original/file-20200626-104529-cfh3v3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344244/original/file-20200626-104529-cfh3v3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344244/original/file-20200626-104529-cfh3v3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344244/original/file-20200626-104529-cfh3v3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=803&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344244/original/file-20200626-104529-cfh3v3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344244/original/file-20200626-104529-cfh3v3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344244/original/file-20200626-104529-cfh3v3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An 1808 aquatint after Thomas Rowlandson, showing human and canine customers standing at the bar in a gin shop.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Metropolitan Museum of Art</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Victorian_Pubs.html?id=p9HWAAAAMAAJ">architectural historian Mark Girouard has pointed out</a>, the adoption of the bar was a “revolutionary innovation” – a “time-and-motion breakthrough” that transformed the relationship between customers and staff. It brought unprecedented efficiencies that were especially important in the expanding and industrialising cities of the early 1800s. </p>
<p>In particular, a fixed counter with taps, cocks and pumps connected to spirit casks and beer barrels was more efficient than employees scurrying between cellars, storerooms and drinking areas. This was especially the case for “off-sales” – customers purchasing drinks to take home – which had always been a large component of the drinks trade and still accounted for <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Victorian_Pubs.html?id=p9HWAAAAMAAJ">an estimated one-third of takings</a> into the 19th century.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344245/original/file-20200626-104494-e7sdrp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344245/original/file-20200626-104494-e7sdrp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344245/original/file-20200626-104494-e7sdrp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344245/original/file-20200626-104494-e7sdrp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=727&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344245/original/file-20200626-104494-e7sdrp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344245/original/file-20200626-104494-e7sdrp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344245/original/file-20200626-104494-e7sdrp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An 1833 lithograph depicting an ‘obliging bar-maid’ using a beer engine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wellcome Collection</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Posterity has paid little attention to the armies of service staff who kept the world of the tavern spinning on its axis before the age of the bar. But they are occasionally glimpsed in historical sources – such as Margaret Sephton, who was <a href="https://www.dhi.ac.uk/intoxicants/record.jsp?&source=courtpaper&courtpaper_ID=1126">“drawing beer” at Widow Knee’s Chester alehouse in 1629</a>, when she gave evidence about a theft of linen. While skilled – one tapster at a Chester tavern styled himself rather grandly in 1640 as a “<a href="https://www.dhi.ac.uk/intoxicants/record.jsp?&source=courtpaper&courtpaper_ID=710">drawer and sommelier of wine</a>” – drink work was poorly paid. Staff were often paid in kind with food and lodgings and the work was usually undertaken by people who were <a href="https://www.dhi.ac.uk/intoxicants/record.jsp?&source=courtpaper&courtpaper_ID=1006">young, poor, or new to the community</a>. </p>
<p>The lack of a bar made the job especially challenging. It was physically demanding – in 1665 a young tapster at a Cheshire alehouse described how during her shift she was “<a href="https://www.dhi.ac.uk/intoxicants/record.jsp?&source=courtpaper&courtpaper_ID=156">called to and fro in the house and to other company</a>, testifying to the constant back and forth. The fact that drinks were not poured in front of patrons made staff more vulnerable to accusations of adulteration and short measure – sometimes <a href="https://www.dhi.ac.uk/intoxicants/record.jsp?&source=courtpaper&courtpaper_ID=904">with good reason</a> – and close physical proximity to customers when serving and collecting payment meant such disputes could more readily turn violent. For female employees, the absence of the insulating layer of material and space later provided by the bar meant they were much more exposed to sexual abuse from male patrons.</p>
<p>What can the historical record teach proprietors of any newly bar-less pubs? There are, of course, modern advantages such as apps and other digital tools – plus the example of European and North American establishments, where table service was never fully displaced. But there are practical lessons to be learned from the past all the same. Publicans today might streamline the range of drinks on offer and encourage the use of jugs for refills. Landlords could develop careful zoning for their staff – in larger alehouses and taverns tapsters <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_English_Alehouse.html?id=Xoe1AAAAIAAJ">were allocated specific booths and rooms</a>. Most importantly they need to establish and enforce clear rules about behaviour towards staff – especially in terms of physical contact. Better to have premodern pubs than no pubs at all, after all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141544/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Brown receives funding from the ESRC and HERA.</span></em></p>The traditional English pub where customers stand at the bar to be served is actually a fairly modern addition.James Brown, Research Associate & Project Manager (UK), University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1401552020-06-11T20:06:12Z2020-06-11T20:06:12ZWhy the pleasure and meaning of mingling in bars can’t be matched by a table for 2<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340923/original/file-20200610-34688-vq2p1l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C131%2C4112%2C2940&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sociologist Marcus Anthony Hunter found that for Black patrons of a Black nightclub, the ‘nightly round’ mitigated the impacts of spatial and social isolation. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unslpash/Tobias Nii Kwatei Quartey)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As bars begin to <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/03/happy-days-return-paris-france-cafes-bars-restaurants-finally/">reopen across the world</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/here-s-what-different-provinces-territories-are-planning-for-covid-19-reopenings-1.5601572">after coronavirus closures</a>, the question of how we will socialize within them remains perplexing. The traditional bar is a complex social space and serves so many functions.</p>
<p>Twenty years ago, a group of French anthropologists <a href="https://www.editions-harmattan.fr/index.asp?navig=catalogue&obj=livre&no=9704">studied the behaviour of young people in a bar called Café Oz</a>, located in the <a href="https://en.parisinfo.com/transport/118359/Quartier-des-Halles">Halles district</a> of Paris. </p>
<p>Café Oz had an Australian theme, as its name might suggest, but this was not its main appeal. The bar’s popularity among young people had more to do with the kinds of social encounters that were possible within its walls.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.pavillon-arsenal.com/fr/edition-e-boutique/collections/19-x-30/9214-paris-la-nuit.html">the traditional Parisian café or bistro</a> kept customers confined to a single table (which the server had probably chosen for them), Café Oz — like British-style pubs — was designed to encourage customers to walk around. The “cash-and-carry” system, foreign to traditional French drinking establishments, required that customers go to the bar to fetch their own drinks. </p>
<p>This encouraged people to hang around the bar, joining in conversations already underway or to sit down with strangers at the long tables installed for that precise purpose. Customers could pursue new connections as they wanted and avoid others.</p>
<p>To the young people interviewed by the anthropologists, these arrangements made possible a freedom that <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/world-paris-caf%C3%A9">the age-old rituals of French drinking culture</a> discouraged.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340722/original/file-20200609-21208-wrntam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340722/original/file-20200609-21208-wrntam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340722/original/file-20200609-21208-wrntam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340722/original/file-20200609-21208-wrntam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340722/original/file-20200609-21208-wrntam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340722/original/file-20200609-21208-wrntam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340722/original/file-20200609-21208-wrntam.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman cleans the terrace of a restaurant in Paris, June 1, 2020. France is reopening its restaurants, bars and cafés as the country eases most restrictions amid the coronavirus crisis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Christophe Ena)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Student mobility, tourism</h2>
<p>Café Oz was a space for meeting strangers, its risks reduced by the fact that one usually arrived with friends. An evening out was a long series of short-term exchanges with the friends one came with and the new acquaintances one made. Those interviewed for the study noted, in particular, their pleasure at meeting people of identities and backgrounds other than their own.</p>
<p>Café Oz is now the brand of a chain of bars, scattered across Paris, whose various <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CafeOzChatelet/">Facebook pages</a> either carry frozen announcements of events in early March or advise <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CAFJpsMod8B/">patrons to have patience</a> in the face of the ongoing quarantine. </p>
<p>Café Oz’s hazy present-day identity combines features of the Anglo-Irish pub, the American sports bar, the casual restaurant and the dance club. Like so many of its competitors, Café Oz now belongs to an international model for drinking places, one whose popularity has followed the enormous growth of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/671752">student mobility</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17535069.2018.1449010">and night-life tourism</a> over the past decade. </p>
<p>With multiple functions and broad appeal, these spaces sell the possibility of casual, short-term sociability.</p>
<h2>Post-confinement future</h2>
<p>There are two principles that guide the future of bars post-lockdown.
The first is that to accommodate social distancing, <a href="https://www.euroweeklynews.com/2020/05/23/late-night-extensions-to-bar-and-restaurant-terraces-coming-to-city-in-spains-costa-blanca-south/">alcohol consumption outside of the home will be stretched out across time and space.</a> </p>
<p>Drinking hours will be extended forwards and backwards, and the spaces for drinking will spill out onto streets, squares and parks. Crowds of drinkers will be thinned out, over longer periods of time and more widely dispersed in space.</p>
<p>The second principle dictates that the mobility of customers be reduced. Drinkers will be confined to their tables, and the size of groups drinking together will be limited and enforced. Gimmicky innovations like <a href="https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2020/05/contactless-tableside-ordering-service-to-launch-in-uk/">remote ordering devices</a> and plexiglass separators are being hailed for their capacity to further reduce the chances of interpersonal contact.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340724/original/file-20200609-21191-1xhfrts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340724/original/file-20200609-21191-1xhfrts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340724/original/file-20200609-21191-1xhfrts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340724/original/file-20200609-21191-1xhfrts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340724/original/file-20200609-21191-1xhfrts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340724/original/file-20200609-21191-1xhfrts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340724/original/file-20200609-21191-1xhfrts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Patrons sit between plexiglass barriers on the patio of a restaurant and bar in Vancouver on May 31, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>‘Vertical drinking’</h2>
<p>Even as we accept these measures, we cannot help but wonder how the social function of bars will change. In the 1970s, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13562570801969473">vertical drinking</a>” — consuming alcohol while standing up and moving around, as in Café Oz — was embraced by British bars as a lively alternative to the dull immobility of the traditional pub, where customers sat in groups faced inwards.</p>
<p>Standing up and moving around seemed to encourage higher levels of drinking and to instill a more sociable atmosphere. Its <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmKjBHRze_k">detractors</a> saw vertical drinking as leading to boorish behaviour, more frequent sexual harassment and the death of meaningful conversation.</p>
<h2>Expressiveness spread</h2>
<p>A bar in which customers move around is a space that is constantly being redefined. In his <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo3632650.html">history of New York nightlife</a>,
historian Lewis A. Erenberg describes the ways in which, as restaurants added dance floors at the beginning of the past century, people went out to bars and eating establishments to look at each other rather than at professional performers engaged to entertain them. </p>
<p>“Expressiveness,” he suggests, “spread to the audience as well.” Getting up, moving around, looking at strangers and mingling with others — these made going to a nighttime drinking place a sociable, entertaining experience. </p>
<h2>The ‘nightly round’</h2>
<p>Sociology professor Marcus Anthony Hunter <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6040.2010.01320.x">studied what he calls “the nightly round,” in urban Black nightlife</a>. He found there were restorative effects of nightlife movements and interactions in a Black nightclub for Black patrons for whom the daytime is often marked by the violence of exclusion and oppression. Heterosexual, as well as lesbian and gay patrons (who patronized the bar, respectively, for a Saturday “straight night” and a Friday “gay night”) used their movements around a bar “to mediate racial segregation [and] sexual segregation.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340935/original/file-20200610-34710-7jyf4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340935/original/file-20200610-34710-7jyf4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340935/original/file-20200610-34710-7jyf4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340935/original/file-20200610-34710-7jyf4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340935/original/file-20200610-34710-7jyf4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340935/original/file-20200610-34710-7jyf4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340935/original/file-20200610-34710-7jyf4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hunter found that Black patrons were exploring socio-economic opportunities while circulating in a Black nightclub.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Unsplash)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hunter found their “rounds” were ways of shoring up social capital — one’s place within community — and a way of exploring socio-economic opportunities (and for the lesbian and gay patrons, developing social support). In Hunter’s words, such contacts mitigate “the effects of social and spatial isolation.”</p>
<p>In her extraordinary 1944 novel <a href="https://www.hmhco.com/shop/books/The-Street/9780358187547"><em>The Street</em></a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/14/the-street-the-1940s-african-american-thriller-that-became-a-huge-bestseller">about life in Harlem</a>, Ann Petry wrote that, for its Black clientele, a certain neighbourhood bar served as “a social club and a meeting place,” its talk and laughter replacing “the haunting silences of rented rooms and little apartments.”</p>
<h2>Celebration or lament?</h2>
<p>As the spatial-temporal limits on social drinking are extended, there will be much to celebrate in the coming months. </p>
<p>But if the price of this extension is that patrons are immobilized at assigned tables in small groups — and if these groups nervously eye each other rather than revelling in the spectacle of mingling strangers — bars will have lost some of their most important functions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140155/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Straw receives funding from McGill University under the James McGill Professor program. . </span></em></p>If bars are forced to restrict people’s movement in our post-coronavirus pandemic world, they will lose some of their most important social functions.William Straw, Professor of Urban Media Studies, Department of Art History and Communications Studies, McGill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1296732020-02-05T12:43:03Z2020-02-05T12:43:03ZFrom book clubs to the Archers, how to reinvigorate the local village pub<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311386/original/file-20200122-117949-1djprx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C42%2C3471%2C2243&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pubs across the UK are shuttering, with 23% closing between 2008 and 2018</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-friends-enjoying-beer-brewery-pub-763401241">Disobey Art/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A busy yet serene pub at the heart of a thriving village community is an image most of us are familiar with. The reality, however, is that there has been a decline in the number and usage of these community hubs. In 2018, the Office for National Statistics found that 23% of pubs across the UK <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/articles/economiesofalesmallpubscloseaschainsfocusonbigbars/2018-11-26">had closed between 2008 and 2018</a>. </p>
<p>The reasons for this are interrelated and varied but include changes in the <a href="https://www.ippr.org/files/images/media/files/publication/2012/01/pubs-and-places_2nd-ed_Jan2012_8519.pdf">behaviour of consumers and legislation</a>. Examples of this include the rise of <a href="https://ukie.org.uk/press-release/2018/03/uk-games-market-grows-124-record-%C2%A3511bn-2017">home entertainment</a>, and <a href="https://joinclubsoda.com">changing drinking habits</a> towards <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/drugusealcoholandsmoking/bulletins/opinionsandlifestylesurveyadultdrinkinghabitsingreatbritain/2017">healthier lifestyles</a>.</p>
<p>As a result, village pubs are having to think about how to remarket themselves and diversify in order to survive. Between 2009 and 2013, I <a href="http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/23378/">conducted</a> 66 interviews with village residents, pub goers and local service providers across 25 villages in Lincolnshire in the east of England to research how they viewed and experienced the rural pub. This shed light on some ways in which villages can save these institutions. </p>
<h2>Social hubs</h2>
<p>For many people, the village pub is more than a place to drink. They see their pub as social hubs that carry a lot of history and heritage. One village resident I interviewed said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What makes our local is not just its locality but its identity, the fact that the beer mats, pictures and trophies tell stories of the village and its residents. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Given that village residents often place high value on the social and cultural value of the local pub, it is unsurprising that some pubs are explicitly turning to these to further sustain both the pub and the local community. Efforts have ranged from setting up <a href="https://www.pubisthehub.org.uk/case-study/kings-arms-shouldham-norfolk/">community cafes</a> to offering services, such as <a href="https://www.pubisthehub.org.uk/case-study/bell-inn-lower-broadheath-worcestershire/">grocery stores</a> or <a href="https://www.pubisthehub.org.uk/case-study/the-shoulder-of-mutton-osmaston/">post offices</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311597/original/file-20200123-162194-s3tf3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311597/original/file-20200123-162194-s3tf3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311597/original/file-20200123-162194-s3tf3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311597/original/file-20200123-162194-s3tf3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311597/original/file-20200123-162194-s3tf3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311597/original/file-20200123-162194-s3tf3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311597/original/file-20200123-162194-s3tf3b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some pubs have created libraries or started book clubs in a bid to increase their use by local residents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-elderly-women-talk-comfortable-library-158810414">Jamie Hooper/ Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Throughout Lincolnshire, book clubs and libraries in pubs are becoming more familiar. The village of Leasingham is one example. Here <a href="https://www.leasinghamcbs.com/pub-projects.html">the community-owned pub</a> introduced a book corner where residents can donate, swap and read books in a dedicated space. </p>
<p>Facets like this offer residents a space to network, which can help sustain a rural community. As one pub manager from another village noted: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Pubs by their very nature can enhance residents’ social lives and I feel I have a responsibility to adopt some practices such as a book club, which result in a higher social return for residents over an economic return for me. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>While this pub manager sees the return as social, there is some evidence that such moves can increase pub business, from the sale of hot drinks in the day, for example, which help to contribute to a pub’s sustainability – <a href="https://www.pubisthehub.org.uk/case-study/sun-inn-lepton/">the Sun Inn</a>, in West Yorkshire is among several where this has happened.</p>
<h2>History and heritage</h2>
<p>Other pubs have been trying to draw in more custom with things like <a href="https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2019/02/05/Why-pubs-should-brew-their-own-beer">beer brewed on the premises</a>. Some pubs have sought to emphasise their importance to the local community by <a href="http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/23378/">decorating with stories and photos of residents</a> from periods like Armistice Day. </p>
<p>Others have highlighted their connections to popular myths or <a href="https://www.pubisthehub.org.uk/case-study/the-prince-of-wales/">local figures</a>. One such pub is <a href="https://www.thebullrippingale.co.uk/about-us/#thearchers">The Bull in Rippingale</a>, Lincolnshire. Around the premises pictures and newspaper clippings adorn the walls celebrating its connection to the BBC radio drama The Archers. Pub regular and local farmer, Henry Burtt suggested the idea of The Archers to the BBC in 1946.</p>
<p>Through <a href="https://pearl.lincoln.ac.uk/2018-19-grants/#claire">public engagement events</a> and <a href="http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/27802/">my research</a>, I have shown that this type of diversification is looked upon favourably by residents. Along with case study examples by <a href="https://www.pubisthehub.org.uk/sector/heritage-history-centre/">Pub is the Hub</a>, an online initiative that supports local pubs, this type of diversification can rejuvenate community interest in such drinking houses, leading to wider usage by residents.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.pubisthehub.org.uk/case-study/allan-ramsay-hotel-carlops-borders/">Allan Ramsay Hotel</a> near Edinburgh in Scotland is an example of this. After asking customers what they wanted, the pub owners decided to foreground their connection to the poet Allan Ramsay and his son Allan Junior, the painter. They did so by offering walks featured in the elder’s poetry and filling the pub with Ramsay paraphernalia, including portraits by the younger Ramsay. As a result, there has been increased community usage, with the pub becoming a focal point for local activities, and a destination to visit. </p>
<p>By explicitly diversifying their cultural offering, combined with more traditional methods such as <a href="https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2012/02/24/Food-is-key-to-pub-survival">offering good quality food</a>, village pubs and their communities are able to bring their history and heritage to the fore. In doing so, they are able to showcase memories and stories which can act as a magnet to attract new customers while sustaining existing users.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129673/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Markham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Local watering holes are closing up and down the country, shaking up their offerings and making the most of their heritage may just help save themClaire Markham, Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1076662018-11-28T14:32:33Z2018-11-28T14:32:33ZMore than 11,000 pubs closed since 2001 – but breweries could revive local watering holes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247752/original/file-20181128-32197-1l9bcco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C67%2C2890%2C1927&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A sorry sight. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/draco2008/2568627948/sizes/l">Draco 2008/Flickr.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The number of pubs in the UK has <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/activitysizeandlocation/articles/economiesofalesmallpubscloseaschainsfocusonbigbars/2018-11-26">fallen by 22%</a> over the past two decades: from around 50,000 in 2008, to 39,000 in 2018. But the losses aren’t spread evenly. One in four independently owned pubs has shut up shop, while the number of boozers owned by large chains such as JD Wetherspoon has stayed almost steady, dipping from 6,000 to 5,800 over 20 years. </p>
<p>These figures from the Office for National statistics (ONS) confirm the trends regularly reported by organisations such as the <a href="http://www.camra.org.uk/news/-/asset_publisher/1dUgQCmQMoVC/content/pub-closures-are-making-us-all-poorer-says-camra">Campaign for Real Ale</a> and the <a href="https://beerandpub.com/2016/09/25/bbpa-releases-new-stats-handbook-uk-alcohol-consumption-remains-stable-18-per-cent-down-on-2004-peak/">British Beer and Pubs and Association</a> (BBPA). </p>
<p>There are various reasons behind the closures: increasing <a href="https://beerandpub.com/2018/10/24/over-3700-pubs-could-close-unless-the-chancellor-extends-business-rates-relief-states-new-bbpa-report/">real costs and business rates</a> – particularly for independent pubs – a shift toward <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/drugusealcoholandsmoking/bulletins/opinionsandlifestylesurveyadultdrinkinghabitsingreatbritain/2017">healthier and more sober lifestyles</a> among young people, <a href="http://www.ias.org.uk/Blog/By-tackling-cheap-off-trade-alcohol-we-can-support-pubs-AND-reduce-harmful-consumption.aspx">cheaper alcohol prices</a> from off-licences and supermarkets and <a href="https://ukie.org.uk/press-release/2018/03/uk-games-market-grows-124-record-%C2%A3511bn-2017">the growth of home entertainment</a> have all dulled the appeal of going to the pub. </p>
<p>Measures to keep pubs alive have not had much much impact over the years. Between 2013 and 2015, a cumulative tax cut of 3p per pint reportedly <a href="http://www.ias.org.uk/uploads/pdf/ias%20reports/sb10042016.pdf">reduced beer duty</a> by 14%, compared to 2012. But <a href="https://beerandpub.com/2017/07/10/bbpa-publishes-latest-cost-benchmarking-data-for-tenants-and-lessees/">according to the BBPA</a>, beer duty rose by 42% between 2008 and 2012, and 5,000 pubs closed in that same period. The beer duty freeze and business rates relief for small shops announced in <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2018-documents">the government’s recent budget</a> could be too little, too late to help independent pubs.</p>
<h2>Country versus city</h2>
<p>The closures have hit urban pubs harder than pubs serving rural areas and villages, with 26% of city pubs shutting their doors for good between 2001 an 2018, compared with about 21% of rural pubs. In fact, employment in rural pubs has gone up almost 24%, while employment in urban pubs declined by just over 2%. Around 10,000 pub jobs vanished in major cities across England and Wales, while pubs serving smaller cities and towns created 3,750 more jobs since 2001. </p>
<p>In response to these difficult times, many pubs in the UK have <a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/IJCHM-12-2015-0717">changed their business strategies</a>, and now go far beyond serving beer to try to attract more customers and see off competition from European-style cafes, which also sell alcohol into the night. For example, there are growing numbers of “themed” bars and pubs cropping up in cities and towns, which sell drinks while offering a unique activity, environment or atmosphere: from sport bars equipped with big screens to broadcast games, to fantasy-inspired bars designed to offer unique experiences to customers. An example is ABQ, the Breaking Bad-themed bar in London. </p>
<p>Tougher competition in urban areas has led many small pubs to close down, while larger pubs are becoming more common. The urban pubs that survived since 2001 are likely to have increased in size, attracted investments from large chains and gradually absorbed the custom from pubs that have closed. In this sense, there are still opportunities available for pub owners in smaller towns to grow their businesses. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247753/original/file-20181128-32185-rkq0dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247753/original/file-20181128-32185-rkq0dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247753/original/file-20181128-32185-rkq0dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247753/original/file-20181128-32185-rkq0dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247753/original/file-20181128-32185-rkq0dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247753/original/file-20181128-32185-rkq0dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247753/original/file-20181128-32185-rkq0dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Posh pub grub.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/plated-steak-steamed-pudding-vegetables-474132505?src=YYrKRCUrRttuxpw3CmxqwA-3-14">Shutterstock.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In rural areas, many pubs have started focusing on serving good food alongside booze, becoming gastro-pubs. Some have even ended up competing with top-rated restaurants: <a href="https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/food-and-drink/best-dining-pubs-uk-michelin/">14 pubs</a> across the UK were awarded the Michelin star in 2018. This has brought about a shift in the clientele rural pubs seek to attract, as they invest in kitchen staff and facilities to target tourists and people from out of town, in order to remain profitable. </p>
<h2>Places for people</h2>
<p>It’s highly likely this change in strategy has affected the social life of rural communities and villages, which was once supported by these pubs. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1068/a43586">My own research has found that</a>, particularly in rural and remote areas, pubs are seen by local residents as essential places to meet and talk. When these businesses close or change their business strategies, local people’s opportunities to socialise vanish with them. </p>
<p>It’s not all bleak for the UK beer and pubs industry, though. The decline of pubs since early 2000s has been offset by a significant increase in the number of UK breweries. There are now more than 2,000 breweries operating in the country – up 64% since 2012. My own calculations, based on <a href="https://toolbox.siba.co.uk/documents/Facts%20&%20Figures/British%20Beer%20Reports/SIBA%20Members%20Survey%202018.pdf">data from the Society of Independent Breweries</a> (SIBA), reveal a steady growth in the number of pubs owned or leased by breweries – up 25% and 19% respectively, from 2014 to 2017. </p>
<p>Often, breweries acquire pubs dismissed by large companies, and rebrand them to sell their own beers. What’s more, one in three breweries surveyed by SIBA in 2017 had a functioning tap bar operating on the site of the brewery itself. Like local pubs, these places are slowly becoming part of the fabric of local communities, providing a place for customers to meet and enjoy their beer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ignazio Cabras provides expert consultancy for the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA)
</span></em></p>Boarded up pubs are becoming a common sight, and it’s having a real impact on rural village life.Ignazio Cabras, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Regional Economic Development, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1019272018-08-22T11:33:50Z2018-08-22T11:33:50ZFour tips on how to get served more quickly at the pub: new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232895/original/file-20180821-149475-1v20sv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps please.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mavo via Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As you are reading this, in bars all over the world customers are ordering drinks and bartenders are serving them. Some are getting their drinks without too much fuss, while others are getting disgruntled at being made to wait – and it is even worse when the bartender serves someone who has not been waiting as long as you have. But this common interaction has seldom been explored in any depth.</p>
<p>We used the technique of <a href="http://linguistics.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.001.0001/acrefore-9780199384655-e-40">conversation analysis</a>, developed by <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Harvey+Sacks%3A+Social+Science+and+Conversation+Analysis-p-9780745617114">Harvey Sacks</a> and inspired by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/jul/13/harold-garfinkel-obituary">Harold Garfinkel’s</a> <a href="http://hummedia.manchester.ac.uk/institutes/methods-manchester/docs/ethnomethodology.pdf">ethnomethodology</a>, which enabled us to look in detail at what seem to be fairly mundane everyday interactions. </p>
<p>Our research, which also included <a href="https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/handle/2134/14293">analysis of videos</a> showing customers placing requests for drink and food items with bartenders, reveals “best practice” for getting served at the bar. It also shows just how ordered we are in our everyday behaviour.</p>
<h2>1: Show that you’re available</h2>
<p>As customers, we demonstrate our availability to enter into a spoken, face-to-face service encounter (or not) with our bodies. For example, we might avoid eye contact with or hurry past a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2008.00208.x">street vendor</a> selling the Big Issue if we don’t have change, or make a show of fumbling, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/organisation-interaction-and-practice/some-major-organisational-consequences-of-some-minor-organised-conduct-evidence-from-a-video-analysis-of-preverbal-service-encounters-in-a-showroom-retail-store/6014C7FCB46566A655B2EEDC8CFDE73E">when in a shop</a>, with an item that we’d like to speak to a sales assistant about. </p>
<p>And when we’re at the bar we “hover” – a term used <a href="http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/23/">elsewhere</a> to describe customers looking for a free table in a cafe. We hover – and we recognise hovering in others. But how? Analysis of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378216613002841?via%3Dihub">200 customers</a> showed that hovering means standing within two metres of the bar, with your torso aimed in the direction of the bartender, gaze focused on them, taking steps to “move into” an interaction. Standing with your back to the bar, gazing off into the distance or standing more than two metres away is not conducive to speedy service. We have to be available for bartenders to invite us to place an order. </p>
<p>When two or more people come together to interact they engage in a spatial arrangement, a common focus – something <a href="http://www.academicroom.com/article/gesture">Adam Kendon</a>, a scholar of gesture and face-to-face interaction, calls an “<a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-642-12397-9_1.pdf">O-space</a>”, which helps encourage a transaction such as ordering a drink in the context of a pub.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D6Ic_i6P4zI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Note, in the video, the customer’s movements toward the bartender as they negotiate a shared space.</p>
<h2>2: Show the money</h2>
<p>When the bar is crowded with hovering customers, making ourselves appear to be the “most available” is essential. Bartenders displayed their skill at serving customers in turn, only occasionally inviting a customer to order out of sequence. </p>
<p>Displaying your payment method for your order is an effective way to show you’re not only available to place – but also to pay for – an order. This availability and preparedness makes you an attractive choice in a sea of potential next customers. Analysis revealed this can be done with stacked coins, coins “jingled” in hands, notes and cards. Be sure to keep your gaze at the bartender as interacting with other “objects” in the environment might cost you your turn. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lbpiGDBqaYI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Note the customer as he steps forward, money on display as his competing customer looks down to the menu. This demonstrates he is not yet ready to order – and certainly not ready to exchange a quick payment. </p>
<h2>3: Speak up</h2>
<p>We routinely visit bars and restaurants with others. When we arrive at a restaurant, <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/text.1.1993.13.issue-2/text.1.1993.13.2.213/text.1.1993.13.2.213.xml">we are treated as a group</a> and we tend to have a lead speaker providing the party booking name. We tend to answer collectively, rather than individually to a question: “How’s the food?” </p>
<p>But at the bar, although we arrive as a group, we might wish to place and pay for our orders separately. Or we might order together but pay separately. Sometimes we might order individually but pay together (when one of our friends says “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2011.01388.x">I’ll get these</a>”). </p>
<p>In a busy pub, staff can be put off by a gaggle of customers when they can’t tell who is going to order. So it’s important to make sure whoever is buying the drinks makes themselves obvious. Otherwise it’s quite likely that the bartender will ask whether anyone’s waiting, which might allow someone else to get in first.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KE6iSvLa9bA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>4: Have your order ready</h2>
<p>These days most pub tills will have separate options for various items, menu choices and the rest – such as a rare, medium or well-done steak – and most cash tills will not allow the order to continue without the option being entered. Or you might be asked to provide a table number if the pub restaurant has waiter service. </p>
<p>So, to make sure this all proceeds without stalling – and to lessen the chances of the bartender drumming his of her fingers on the bar while you shout “chips or salad?” across the pub at your friend, know your table number, know your options and make sure whoever is ordering knows this too.</p>
<h2>Cheers!</h2>
<p>By now you should have navigated the sea of customers and be sat sipping your drink. What research like this reveals – as well as how to be an efficient customer – is the ordered nature of our everyday behaviours. By looking at mundane activities such as getting served at the bar, we find out more about the practices we employ which produce and maintain this order (and help keep the peace in pubs).</p>
<p>Our analysis also showed what effects our bodies have on getting served next before we even open our mouths. The Daily Telegraph <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/10315850/How-to-use-body-language-to-get-served-first-at-a-bar.html">reported in 2013</a> that German researchers were trying to design a robotic bartender and had used people’s behaviour at the bar as a way to “train” the robots. Whether your smile or stance will cut any ice with these mechanical bartenders remains to be seen, but while humans man the till, these little tips should ensure you don’t go thirsty for long.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101927/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Richardson's PhD received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).</span></em></p>Seasoned pubgoers will know that there are some ways to get served more quickly than the other drinkers.Emma Richardson, Research Associate, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/905562018-01-29T14:51:05Z2018-01-29T14:51:05Z‘Agent of Change’ protects music venues from noise complaints, but won’t stop them from closing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203780/original/file-20180129-100926-1586ejm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Gi6-m_t_W-E">Bruno Cervera/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en">FAL</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A Conservative minister for housing, a grey-haired Labour MP, ageing icons of rock and creative young people have formed an unlikely alliance in support of the Agent of Change (Planning) Bill. The proposed law, which will be discussed for the second time in the House of Commons on March 16, <a href="https://www.iq-mag.net/2018/01/uk-govt-sajid-javid-backs-agent-change/#.Wmn_opOFilM">makes developers responsible</a> for dealing with noise issues when they build new homes near music venues. </p>
<p>This all came about because people were worried about the high number of live music venues that were closing across the UK. The Greater London Authority (GLA) <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/arts-and-culture/music/saving-londons-music-venues">asked for a report</a> on London’s grass roots music venues, only to find that 35% of them had been “lost” since 2007. Cities across the nation – from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/sep/09/the-slow-death-of-music-venues-in-cities">Glasgow to Manchester</a> – have similar stories to tell, even though the government <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-record-contribution-to-uk-economy">has recognised</a> how important the music industry is for the economy. </p>
<p>So how did this happen? Many different governments since around the year 2000 have tried to get more flats and houses built in cities, because there aren’t enough for everyone who wants to live there. Many homes have been built on “brownfield” sites – where there used to be factories or warehouses, which are now used less or not at all. These types of places also offered spaces where creative entrepreneurs could set up new clubs, or take over existing venues and attract new customers with the offer of live music. </p>
<h2>Buyer beware</h2>
<p>But as people move into the new flats built on these sites (which they often pay a lot of money for) some inevitably complain about the noise coming from the venues. Venue owners in Shoreditch (one of London’s hip neighbourhoods) actually put up signs warning would-be buyers that there are live music venues in the area. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203518/original/file-20180126-100919-1a2zuoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203518/original/file-20180126-100919-1a2zuoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203518/original/file-20180126-100919-1a2zuoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203518/original/file-20180126-100919-1a2zuoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203518/original/file-20180126-100919-1a2zuoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203518/original/file-20180126-100919-1a2zuoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203518/original/file-20180126-100919-1a2zuoa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A sign on Rivington Street, Shoreditch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2014/10/21/rivington-street-pedestrian-zone-shoreditch/">Hackney Citizen</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Up until now, these complaints caused big problems for music venue owners, because planning principles were not on their side. The onus was on them to ensure their neighbours weren’t disturbed by music and loud noises. But putting in proper soundproofing or keeping customers quiet can be difficult and expensive. </p>
<p>This doesn’t just affect the kind of places run on a shoe string on the outskirts of town. Even London’s mighty Ministry of Sound – which has been a mecca for House music lovers since 1991 – <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25642151">was caught up</a> in a lengthy planning application for a tower block of flats nearby – a case which eventually ended in the flats having to be soundproofed.</p>
<h2>A matter of principle</h2>
<p>The way the planning system works, is that local authorities in England and Wales produce their own development plans, which must align with national policy as set out in a 2012 document called the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6077/2116950.pdf">National Planning Policy Framework</a> (NPPF). This document made a small move to protect venues, by saying that if they wanted to expand, then there should be no unreasonable restrictions. But it didn’t address the situation described above. </p>
<p>Some local authorities have already started to draw up their own policies, which put the burden of noise reduction measures firmly on the developer who is making the change – whether it’s for <a href="http://musicvenuetrust.com/2017/11/agent-of-change-is-policy-d12-in-london-plan-2018/">flats or other uses</a>. This is the legal principle, known as the “Agent of Change”. The bill, now supported by government, will ensure that the principle is embedded in the NPPF – so all local authorities will have to follow it. It will also carry more weight in appeals against planning decisions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203778/original/file-20180129-100926-4mj8h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203778/original/file-20180129-100926-4mj8h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203778/original/file-20180129-100926-4mj8h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203778/original/file-20180129-100926-4mj8h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203778/original/file-20180129-100926-4mj8h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203778/original/file-20180129-100926-4mj8h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203778/original/file-20180129-100926-4mj8h3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Got the power?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/TZCppMjaOHU">William White/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en">FAL</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although the “Agent of Change” principle will help prevent live music venues from closing, it won’t be enough on its own. Sadly, it would not address other issues such as rising rents, hikes in rateable values and property owners preferring to redevelop their buildings into flats. For example, consultancy firm <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/report_headlines_-_impact_of_business_rates_revaluation_on_londons_grassrots_music_venues_-_nordicity_-_april_2017.pdf">Nordicity estimated that</a> a revaluation of business rates would cause a fifth of London’s grass roots venues to close. And London’s oldest LGBTQ venue, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, is still <a href="http://www.rvt.community/news/">engaged in a battle</a> to save it from redevelopment, by way of a community buy out. </p>
<p>Yet <a href="https://pubs.camra.org.uk/pubsuccessstories">past examples</a> show that people can save their local pubs from closure, whether through local campaigning or by taking ownership of the buildings. And to see creativity and culture, especially for young people, supported through the dusty corridors of parliament, is truly heart warming.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90556/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marion Roberts has received funding from many different organisations, including central and local government and charitable foundations, for research on the night time economy.</span></em></p>Developers will now be responsible for dealing with noise issues from nearby music venues – but it will take real community activism to prevent closures.Marion Roberts, Professor of Urban Design, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/818702017-08-22T08:48:12Z2017-08-22T08:48:12ZRegular pub binge drinkers are more likely to be violent<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181252/original/file-20170807-25496-16of1er.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">via shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>People who admit to regularly binge drinking at the pub are more prone to have acted violently in the past 12 months, according to my <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10826084.2017.1307408">new research</a>. The findings raise questions about what strategies can be used to reduce alcohol-related violence and suggest promise for measures to modify alcohol pricing and taxation as well as restrictions on pub licences.</p>
<p>Due to its <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article-abstract/54/6/1207/395967/The-Dynamic-Risk-of-Heavy-Episodic-Drinking-on">association</a> with violent outcomes, binge drinking is an ongoing public health and criminal justice concern. Media coverage of binge drinking has focused on young people, given their frequent and often public displays of drunkenness. But young drinkers are not a homogeneous group and the overuse of the term “binge drinking” overlooks the complexity of their alcohol use. Understanding who people drink with and where helps give a fuller picture of the nuances of the way young people drink and whether it’s associated with violent behaviour. </p>
<h2>Different types of drinkers</h2>
<p>My research looked at data relating to more than 2,700 16 to 29-year-olds from England and Wales from the <a href="https://discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/series/?sn=2000042">2006 Offending Crime and Justice Survey</a> to find out whether different typologies of drinkers exist and how these are associated with incidences of assault. </p>
<p>I used what’s called latent class analysis, a method for identifying subgroups within a population based on individual responses from large data sets. Using this method means this is the first study to describe the variation in young people’s drinking practices based not only on their alcohol consumption, but also who they drink with and where. </p>
<p>To do my analysis, I used three alcohol consumption measures based on the responses people gave to the 2006 survey. These captured whether respondents were weekly drinkers, had felt drunk at least once a month and whether they exceeded more than six units of alcohol in one day for women, or eight units for men – classed as binge drinking. I also used nine indicators of drinking context from the survey, which related to who people usually drank with and where. These included whether people drank with parents, partners, friends, relatives or work colleagues as well as whether they drank in pubs or bars, nightclubs, restaurants or on the street.</p>
<p>From this, three classifications of drinkers emerged, linked to the probability of a person committing assault offences in the past 12 months – also captured in the survey. </p>
<p>The smallest group – around 20% – were classed as “moderate drinkers”. They were characterised by low levels of drinking and had the lowest risk of perpetrating assault offences in the 12 months before they completed the survey. </p>
<p>They were followed by 32% of people classed as “regular pub binge drinkers”, who drank frequently and predominantly with friends in pubs. They had the highest probability of perpetrating assault offences in the past 12 months. </p>
<p>The largest group – around 48% – were classed as “regular social drinkers”. They drank frequently but across a wider range of settings with a wider range of people. Their likelihood of committing assault was lower than the regular pub drinkers but higher than the moderate drinkers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181253/original/file-20170807-25535-9iotrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181253/original/file-20170807-25535-9iotrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181253/original/file-20170807-25535-9iotrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181253/original/file-20170807-25535-9iotrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181253/original/file-20170807-25535-9iotrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181253/original/file-20170807-25535-9iotrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181253/original/file-20170807-25535-9iotrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sup, and enjoy together.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">via shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Strategies to reduce violence</h2>
<p>These findings support the notion that drinking behaviour is influenced by the setting in which alcohol is consumed – which can then impact the likelihood of violent behaviour. As the survey did not ascertain whether the violence that occurred did so under the influence of alcohol or not, it remains a possibility that people who are violent are more likely to binge drink, rather than the other way round. </p>
<p>While this kind of study does not imply that drinking causes violence, when these findings are considered alongside those of <a href="http://www.drugslibrary.stir.ac.uk/files/2017/04/Violence-Monograph.pdf">other</a> <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2011.00239.x/abstract">studies</a>, they help support the theory that alcohol intoxication facilitates violence among some people in some contexts. </p>
<p>The findings suggest that generic campaigns to reduce drinking, such as <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-37725251">the law</a> that introduced a minimum price for a unit of alcohol in Scotland, are still worthwhile. But so are targeted interventions specific to the drinking context, for example making sure staff in pubs and clubs do not serve people who are drunk, as well as limiting the availability of alcohol by restricting licenses and pub trading hours. In England, <a href="http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2016/08/11/jech-2016-207753">research</a> suggests that areas with more intense alcohol licensing policies have shown stronger declines in rates of violent crimes. </p>
<p>This means that attempts to ameliorate alcohol-related violence ought to be specific to the context in which the drinking occurs, rather than just focusing on reducing drinking frequency or the amount of alcohol consumed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81870/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carly Lightowlers received funding for this study from the British Academy (award SQ130031).</span></em></p>It matters who a person drinks with and where.Carly Lightowlers, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/808902017-07-17T03:59:15Z2017-07-17T03:59:15ZWe need more than just laws to ensure responsible alcohol service<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178360/original/file-20170716-14254-1g97jxj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There is little evidence that training alone reduces the propensity for over-service of alcohol.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Alan Porritt</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australian law prohibits the sale of alcohol to drunk people. Despite the shifting sands of alcohol policy, <a href="http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/Domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/LTObject_Store/LTObjSt7.nsf/DDE300B846EED9C7CA257616000A3571/70AC1BBE193EBF8BCA257B10001DF528/$FILE/98-94aa067%20authorised.pdf">Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) legislation</a> has remained a stalwart figure.</p>
<p>In Australia, RSA imposes mandatory training requirements for liquor industry workers to educate alcohol servers about signs of intoxication, when to refuse service, and the harms of over-service. Internationally, RSA training is considered a cost-effective strategy to reduce the sale of alcohol to drunk people.</p>
<p>However, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673616324205?via%3Dihub">there is little evidence</a> that training alone reduces the propensity for over-service. It may have some effect when coupled with penalties for sales to drunk people and strict enforcement.</p>
<p>Given the longstanding restrictions on the sale of alcohol to intoxicated patrons, it seems perplexing that public drunkenness remains a notable problem – especially when we consider that public knowledge about RSA in Australia appears to be extremely high.</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://www.globaldrugsurvey.com/the-global-drug-survey-2015-findings/">2015 Global Drug Survey</a> of alcohol and drug users, Australian respondents were overwhelmingly aware that it is illegal for bar staff to serve an intoxicated patron.</p>
<p>Awareness varied across states. South Australians were the least aware: 85.2% responded it was illegal to serve alcohol to a drunk person. Western Australians were most aware: 94.7% responded it was illegal.</p>
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<p>In spite of this high awareness, a large proportion of respondents also agreed that a drunk person would be served alcohol in Australian licensed venues.</p>
<p>Again, agreement varied across states. In New South Wales, 45% of respondents agreed that a drunk person would be served alcohol. More than 60% of Victorian respondents agreed a drunk person would be served – despite the practice being illegal.</p>
<p>These statistics seem to suggest that current RSA legislation is effective in increasing public knowledge about responsible alcohol service of alcohol, but it may not be effective in deterring public drunkenness or encouraging responsible drinking in Australian bars and nightclubs.</p>
<p>Perhaps more worryingly, these statistics may indicate some patrons buy alcohol even when they are intoxicated, putting bar staff at risk of monetary penalty. There is no penalty for the patron – only for the alcohol server and the venue.</p>
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<hr>
<h2>Combining training with law enforcement</h2>
<p>In Australia, RSA was <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/legis/nsw/num_act/placa1830n12395/placa1830n12395.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=new%20south%20wales%20liquor">first introduced in NSW</a> in 1830. Since then, it has been adopted across all jurisdictions.</p>
<p>In Australia, mandatory training is coupled with a legislative framework that imposes monetary penalties for the sale of alcohol to anyone who is unduly intoxicated. </p>
<p>Patrons are considered to be unduly intoxicated when their speech, balance, co-ordination and behaviour are noticeably affected, and there are reasonable grounds to believe it is due to alcohol and/or drug use. </p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/Domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/LTObject_Store/LTObjSt7.nsf/DDE300B846EED9C7CA257616000A3571/70AC1BBE193EBF8BCA257B10001DF528/$FILE/98-94aa067%20authorised.pdf">Victoria</a>, <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/wa/consol_act/lca1988197/">WA</a>, <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/tas/consol_act/lla1990190/">Tasmania</a>, and <a href="http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/inforce/8a197a07-ffb9-eceb-a956-ce6b1f11a313/2007-90.pdf">NSW</a>, it is also illegal for patrons to supply alcohol to another person or assist them in obtaining alcohol if the other person is intoxicated.</p>
<p>Penalties for over-service apply to licensees, managers and individual employees who serve alcohol to intoxicated patrons. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Monetary penalties for licensees range from A$7,850 (Tasmania) to $63,075 (Queensland). </p></li>
<li><p>Employees who sell alcohol to drunk patrons can be fined anywhere from $1,500 (ACT) to $11,000 (NSW). </p></li>
<li><p>Monetary penalties for patrons who supply alcohol to intoxicated individuals range from $1,100 (NSW) to $7,850 (Tasmania).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>No states or territories impose jail time for the sale or supply of alcohol to intoxicated patrons. Despite long-existing legislation and the potential for heavy penalties, convictions are extremely rare.</p>
<h2>Australia compares favourably on knowledge and laws</h2>
<p>Compared to other countries, though, Australia appears to be performing well when it comes to alcohol and responsibility.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/12/e010112">recent paper</a> with respondents from 19 countries found Australians were <a href="http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/suppl/2015/12/23/bmjopen-2015-010112.DC1/bmjopen-2015-010112supp.pdf">second only to New Zealand</a> in relation to knowledge about the illegality of serving drunk patrons.</p>
<p>The research found that in countries where public knowledge is highest, respondents are least likely to agree that a drunk person will be served.</p>
<p>While public knowledge is not enough to stop service to drunk patrons, perhaps informal regulation or self-regulation is enacted through public knowledge. People are less likely to attempt to purchase alcohol when intoxicated if they are aware of the law. And alcohol servers are less inclined to serve drunks if they sense patrons are aware of the legislation and may report their behaviour.</p>
<h2>Room for improvement</h2>
<p>However, the variation in responses between Australia’s states and territories suggests there remains room for improvement. </p>
<p>Focusing on further refinements to the content and delivery of RSA training is unlikely to be the answer. While evidence regarding the effectiveness of RSA training is mixed, there are core limitations of this approach that cannot be tackled through better training methods. </p>
<p>RSA training provides knowledge to servers about signs of intoxication. But these may be difficult to identify in a bar or club where lighting is poor, noise levels are high, and the interaction between bar staff and patrons is brief. </p>
<p>Given the liquor industry’s core business is the sale of alcohol, it’s easy to see why licensees and bar staff may be conflicted when it comes to refusing service. Such an action will likely result in loss of profit, and may lead to outrage or conflict from patrons. </p>
<p>Finally, any systematic approach to enforcement is likely to be resource-intensive and costly. Convictions are difficult to achieve: this requires proof the server was aware of the patron’s intoxication level.</p>
<p>This is not to suggest Australia should do away with its current RSA legislation. Instead, this approach should be coupled with public discussion that encourages people to take responsible for their own drinking behaviour, rather than placing the burden on servers to set drinking limits for patrons.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was co-authored by Emily Kilpatrick, a masters student at the University of Queensland.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80890/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Ferris is the chief biostatistican and part of the core research team in the Global Drug Survey.
Jason Ferris receives and has received financial support from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council
(APP1089395, APP1122200), Australian Research Council (LP160100067, LP120100689, RFQ2009/30), Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, Queensland Government, Criminology Research Council, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Science, Australian & New Zealand Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons, Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services, The University of Queensland, Victorian Law Enforcement Drug Fund, Department of Health and Ageing, VicHealth, Australian National Preventive Health Agency.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Winstock is founder of the annual Global Drugs Survey.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Larissa J. Maier and Renee Zahnow do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Responsible Service of Alcohol laws should be coupled with public discussion that encourages people to take responsible for their own drinking behaviour.Jason Ferris, Senior Research Fellow, NHMRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute for Social Science Research, The University of QueenslandAdam Winstock, Founder of the Global Drug Survey and Senior Lecturer, King's College LondonLarissa J. Maier, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of ZurichRenee Zahnow, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute for Social Science Research, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/743242017-03-14T14:04:58Z2017-03-14T14:04:58ZThe real story behind the row over UK business rates<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160506/original/image-20170313-19256-781auz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=129%2C100%2C4478%2C2920&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/brighton-england-uk-14-january-2017-555922648?src=T2bLolIxEO1ZrqkDYKdF_w-1-13">Marius_Comanescu/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The tax that small business owners pay on their premises has offered a useful lesson in how the ripples of a financial crisis can leave us floundering years later. It also laid bare a stark divide between north and south in the UK, and sent the ruling Conservative Party rushing to fend off the fury of small business owners, on whose support they could normally rely.</p>
<p>Emotions are running high thanks to the 2017 revaluation of non-residential properties in England, Scotland and Wales. This is based on the market rent of premises at April 1, 2015 and has raised the prospect that some businesses will be saddled with huge increases in their bills; a fear that was <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/spring-budget-2017-philip-hammonds-speech">acknowledged by the chancellor of the exchequer</a>, Philip Hammond, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk-budget-2017-experts-respond-73998">in his first budget</a>.</p>
<p>Hammond <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/spring-budget-2017-21-things-you-need-to-know">introduced three measures</a> designed to head off a row. It was no surprise that it included a headline-grabbing effort to soothe the nerves of Britain’s publicans, with the vast majority of pubs handed a £1,000 discount on their business rates. Hammond also capped at £50 the monthly payments for businesses who would find themselves paying rates for the first time and established a £300m fund to help owners who were struggling with increases.</p>
<p>In truth these sops amount to small beer and are only part of the wider picture. The reality has been much misunderstood. </p>
<h2>Value judgement</h2>
<p>The recent story of business rates in Britain is essentially one of bad timing. And it should be no surprise <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39000471">that the outcry</a> from small businesses was, to some degree, orchestrated by a media that is <a href="https://www.timeout.com/london/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-londons-big-business-rates-squeeze-031317">centred on London and the south-east</a>. What has often gone unreported is that, outside of London and the wider south-east, most retail, pub, office and industrial occupiers have been paying too much in rates for the best part of seven years.</p>
<p>The reason for this is that the previous revaluation, in 2010, was based on 2008 values, when commercial markets were at their peak, just before the impact of the credit crunch and subsequent recession was felt. While national average commercial and industrial rents had <a href="http://www.bpf.org.uk/sites/default/files/resources/PIA-Property-Report-2016-final-for-web.pdf">recovered to their pre-recession peak</a> by 2015, this was driven by strong rental growth in Greater London, while rental growth outside of Greater London remained subdued. Central London offices surpassed their 2008 peak by the first quarter of 2014, but regional office rents were still languishing at 90% of their 2008 peak <a href="http://www.gva.co.uk/uploadedfiles/GVA_UK_Research/2016%20EPMR%20UK%20Post-referendum%20Outlook%20September%202016.pdf">in August last year</a>.</p>
<p>Thus, for businesses of all shapes and sizes around most of the country the latest revaluation has not come a moment too soon. The flip side is that, having been under-rated for at least three years, businesses in London are seeing their rateable values increase substantially. The Centre for Cities think-tank calculates that London’s overall contribution will increase from 17% to 21% of all business rates, more than the next 19 cities combined.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160510/original/image-20170313-19251-o368q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160510/original/image-20170313-19251-o368q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160510/original/image-20170313-19251-o368q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160510/original/image-20170313-19251-o368q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160510/original/image-20170313-19251-o368q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160510/original/image-20170313-19251-o368q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160510/original/image-20170313-19251-o368q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160510/original/image-20170313-19251-o368q1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The capital has benefited, until now.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bauzz/8066090810/in/photolist-aCqFQG-uW25be-wW5bsw-dhLPMd-oD1hou-3VTLDJ-nLkQFL-jhjZ7c-3VPAc8-cLcv8U-4yHfCG-dSxoe6-RP7RjG-3VTRQd-Pb3MjC-aCo38B-chiMMd-ordXCd-9gBeCK-5yC5LB-nEDtND-ebAjcB-duUk2a-uRK72g-duZTHm-4PjxNM-qxoCTY-RnHA5y-5dfGfC-4yHwwS-kpu9Bt-9yGJ9s-mmT1dX-nXM44i-kJdV5p-gP6HCS-nLMitN-fbQxjt-RNidaF-cB8Bzh-jpUZdf-hZNKE6-hZMmn7-Ef5zwN-dF1n3D-nDGp8w-nMKt9R-dP3DjH-hZMYHf-oPFdWw">Raphael Faeh/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rates of return</h2>
<p>The story isn’t as simple as a revaluation in line with the market. For some businesses, the rateable value of their premises may have increased significantly, but this is not the only factor in the rates they have to pay. </p>
<p>In fact, the business rates multiplier which is used to calculate the tax has actually reduced by 1.8 pence in the pound to 46.6p for small businesses and 47.9p for larger businesses. So, if your local coffee shop has a new rateable value of £20,000 then it would pay about £8,400 in rates per year.</p>
<p>In addition, the amount by which a ratepayer’s business rates can increase or decrease is capped – after all, the smaller the business the tighter the margin and the harder it is to absorb extra costs. That same coffee shop would see a maximum 5% hike in rates however much the revaluation added. </p>
<p>And, much like income tax only kicks in after a certain level, there is a similar threshold below which small businesses pay no business rates at all. That has been increased to a rateable value of £12,000 from April 1 2017. And remember, Hammond brought in the £50 a month cap for those who find themselves paying rates for the first time after the revaluation.</p>
<p>According <a href="http://www.centreforcities.org/publication/coming-business-rates-changes-mean-cities/">to the Centre for Cities</a>, only London and Reading will experience an increase in average rates, and there are only five cities where the majority of businesses won’t be exempt from paying business rates.</p>
<h2>Appealing prospect</h2>
<p>You might think that a simple solution to the problem of valuations that fail to match market rents would be to have more frequent valuations. This is easier said than done. The time and resources required to value nearly two million separate premises are considerable. The government <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/business-rates-delivering-more-frequent-revaluations">has sought feedback</a> on how to deliver more frequent valuations. We are still waiting for the results.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160513/original/image-20170313-9606-tcc9fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160513/original/image-20170313-9606-tcc9fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160513/original/image-20170313-9606-tcc9fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160513/original/image-20170313-9606-tcc9fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160513/original/image-20170313-9606-tcc9fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160513/original/image-20170313-9606-tcc9fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160513/original/image-20170313-9606-tcc9fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160513/original/image-20170313-9606-tcc9fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Keeping up with the market.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/27148401@N06/29839273553/in/photolist-MsN5rF-46uZse-51B5cw-8vkYRo-j185VM-efnEEB-9DtGEx-fwJWW8-9gLmAW-efnBe8-eftqwL-efnAKZ-7LvAos-7LvxDw-fSfnDz-9dZSCj-edexJD-eftkfm-9dWNr4-7LvzKC-7LvvYd-dhewAs-7Lvz3w-7LvCUd-7LrxjZ-eftpGE-6fZZ9A-6fZU8C-7LrBH4-6fVNMH-6fVQFM-6g15Hq-7LrCmc-6fVKbx-dhew4b-6fZXYQ-6fZVqw-6fWqCT-6g157y-6fVRYv-7LvyiJ-dGvLCE-6fVPnB-8MYXX6-6g1dVJ-6fZTwm-6fVKTR-6fVUs4-6g1bQq-6fVC4B">shipley43/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The complexity is ramped up by the appeal system. Following the 2010 revaluation of 1.8m premises <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/non-domestic-rating-challenges-and-changes-experimental">there were about one million appeals</a>. Seven years later, 280,000 are still outstanding. That may not be too surprising given the timing of the valuations, but is still a stark challenge.</p>
<p>To streamline appeals, the government has launched a new “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reforming-business-rates-appeals-check-challenge-appeal">Check, Challenge, Appeal</a>” system. It places greater onus on the occupier to be proactive in progressing their appeal through a series of deadlines and is stacked in favour of the department in charge of valuations. That <a href="http://www.rics.org/uk/news/news-insight/comment/check-challenge-appeal/">has sparked criticism</a> that the new system is designed to grind down potential complainants and stifle appeals.</p>
<p>The new appeals system was intended to increase the allowable margin of error <a href="https://www.valuationtribunal.gov.uk/about-us/vte/">when a tribunal</a> looked at whether a valuation was too high. In the end <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/597609/CCA_Government_Response.pdf">that didn’t happen</a>, but the appeals process remains a tough calculation for business owners. They could well end up wasting time and money to achieve nothing and still end up paying rates as much as 10% above the market, if the original valuation is deemed reasonable by the tribunal.</p>
<p>It’s enough to have them crying in their beer – another inadvertent bonus from Philip Hammond for those vote-winning pub landlords perhaps?</p>
<p><em>This story has been corrected in the penultimate paragraph to reflect the government decision to leave appeal terms unchanged</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74324/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Greenhalgh is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. </span></em></p>Uproar from businesses in the South East disguises a complex picture with the financial crisis at its heart.Paul Michael Greenhalgh, Associate Professor of Real Estate Economics, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/722312017-02-13T15:32:42Z2017-02-13T15:32:42ZRural pubs really do make countryside communities happier – but they are closing at an alarming rate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156614/original/image-20170213-15796-x322kf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">End of an era?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=vyV0GtBvL2vjwNO-2v518g-1-2">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The village pub is a key – even clichéd – feature of rural England. They evoke images of pork scratchings and perilously low beams, frothy pints of warm ale and the summertime knock of willow on leather. They are often described as “friendly” and “homey” and many believe that they foster social relationships among residents, strengthening the level of cohesion in villages and positively contributing to communal well-being. But very few studies have tried to verify scientifically whether this is the case. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/IJCHM-12-2015-0717">In one of my recent studies</a>, funded by the British Academy and published in the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, I examined communities and parishes with no more than 3,000 individuals, situated at least five miles (or 10 minutes’ drive) from towns or larger parishes of 5,000 inhabitants or more. </p>
<p>Together with <a href="http://business.leeds.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-directory/profile/matthew-mount/">Dr Matthew Mount of Leeds University</a>, we collected information from several sources, including <a href="http://www.acre.org.uk">Actions with Communities in Rural England (ACRE)</a> and the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk">Office for National Statistics (ONS)</a>, to create an index measuring levels of community cohesion and well-being within communities across the English countryside. </p>
<p>We then focused on 284 parishes – and investigated the impact pubs had on community cohesion. Overall, we found that pubs had a positive, statistically significant impact on social engagement and involvement among residents living in the English countryside. We also found that this positive effect increased threefold between 2000 and 2010 (the period we examined) – possibly because pubs have become increasingly important as other essential services such as post offices and village shops have closed. </p>
<h2>Stronger communities</h2>
<p>Our analysis also highlighted that parishes with a pub had more community events – such as sports matches, charity events, and social clubs – than those without or those with just sports or village halls. Simply speaking, opportunities for communal initiatives would be vastly reduced, if not nonexistent, in these parishes without the presence of pubs. But the presence of more than one pub provided no additional benefit. In other words, two pubs don’t lead to a stronger sense of community than one – and may even increase the likelihood of other problems, such as noise. </p>
<p>Our study reaffirms the significant role played by local pubs. But this comes as pub numbers are in rapid decline. Figures released by the <a href="http://www.beerandpub.com/statistics">British Beer and Pubs Association in 2016</a> show there are approximately 50,800 pubs open in Britain today – compared with nearly 68,000 in 1982. That’s a decline of 25% while the British population has increased by 14% over the same period. And when judged against the findings of our study, that has to be bad for community cohesion.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156615/original/image-20170213-15774-keq9hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156615/original/image-20170213-15774-keq9hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156615/original/image-20170213-15774-keq9hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156615/original/image-20170213-15774-keq9hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156615/original/image-20170213-15774-keq9hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156615/original/image-20170213-15774-keq9hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156615/original/image-20170213-15774-keq9hm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Last orders …</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beer-mug-potato-wedges-on-rustic-182602034">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A number of factors are responsible for this decline, including a general reduction in <a href="http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Operators/Other-operators/Pub-visits-fall-but-customer-spend-per-visit-on-the-rise">customers’ visits to pubs</a> and more competitive <a href="http://www.ias.org.uk/uploads/pdf/Factsheets/Alcohol%20pricing%20factsheet%20April%202014.pdf">alcohol prices in off-licence retailers</a>. In rural areas, this decline has been exacerbated by smaller village populations and <a href="http://www.acre.org.uk/rural-issues/transport">fewer public transport options</a>. Some pubs will have closed because they were poorly run, but can we preserve healthy pubs from unnecessary closures? </p>
<h2>A dwindling party</h2>
<p>One way to help save these vital rural institutions would be to better identify and define “community pubs”. This would help to legislate in favour of those pubs that really are an asset for their community, and to design policies to support these businesses, such as ad-hoc rate relief schemes. </p>
<p>Since 2012, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/14880/Community_Right_to_Bid_-_Non-statutory_advice_note_for_local_authorities.pdf">Asset of Community Value (ACV) / Community Right to Buy</a> legislation has given community groups six months to draw up and submit a case to retain a pub. However, if there is no such ACV or preservation order in place, it is still too easy for developers to buy up and convert long-established pub premises. Tougher legislation would help avoid unnecessary closures, and provide a platform for improving planning regulations. </p>
<p>The lack of infrastructure represents another major problem for rural pubs. Public transport is inadequate – especially in the evening – in many rural areas, which hinders the chances of any business relying on the sale of alcohol. </p>
<p>Incentivising local taxi schemes could enhance the attractiveness of pubs and many other businesses geographically spread and not well served by transport routes. The provision of additional financial support by local authorities for new taxi companies would help to keep tariffs down and encourage rural residents to use them more frequently. This would benefit all businesses, including pubs, operating in the local supply chain.</p>
<p>But while the government should support rural pubs, residents must also play their part. It really is a case of use them, or lose them – and once a pub is gone, it may well be gone forever.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72231/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>In the past, Ignazio Cabras receives funding from the British Academy to research rural pubs in Britain </span></em></p>New study: it’s a case of use them, or lose them.Ignazio Cabras, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Regional Economic Development, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/627182016-07-21T10:35:52Z2016-07-21T10:35:52ZIs Brexit a new ‘Magna Carta’ as Wetherspoon’s boss suggests?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131260/original/image-20160720-31125-tpe6qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Full disclosure: I voted for the UK to remain in the European Union. Mainly because I am an economist in the UK and have a vested interest in a prosperous British economy. I am also a passionate beer lover and have published a number of academic papers measuring the economic and social impact of pubs and breweries in the UK. So the enthusiasm of Tim Martin, chairman of pub chain JD Wetherspoon, for Brexit is of particular interest to me and, in particular, his declaration that it is a “new Magna Carta”. There are just a few problems with his claims.</p>
<p>Martin has frequently criticised the negative forecasts provided by numerous financial institutions in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/31/wetherspoons-brexit-beer-mats-eu-referendum-imf">run-up to</a>, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2016/jul/13/jd-wetherspoons-blasts-brexit-pound-stock-markets-theresa-may-business-live">the aftermath of</a>, the referendum. Christine Lagarde, Mark Carney, and George Osborne who are were described by him as either dishonest or having a poor understanding of economics. Martin is of the firm belief that democracy and prosperity go hand-in-hand, and therefore the UK economy will benefit from leaving what he describes as an undemocratic EU.</p>
<p>It is very early days to tell what kind of impact Brexit will have on Martin’s business. Nonetheless he <a href="http://www.investegate.co.uk/wetherspoon--jd--plc--jdw-/rns/trading-statement/201607130700070036E/">has claimed</a> that Wetherspoon’s trade “strengthened slightly in recent weeks [following Brexit] and we consequently anticipate a modestly improved outcome for this financial year”, despite the dire economic warnings.</p>
<p>A closer look at <a href="http://catererlicensee.com/wetherspoon-issues-pre-close-trading-statement-and-fires-a-salvo-at-the-doommongers/">Wetherspoon’s latest accounts</a> shows that, for the financial year to July 24 2016, the company reported increases for both like-for-like sales (3.4%) and total sales (5.5%). But the full-year operating margin, a measure of a company’s efficiency, is expected to decrease to around 6.4% <a href="http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Operators/JD-Wetherspoon/JD-Wetherspoon-like-for-like-sales-up-3.8">from 7.5% last year</a>.</p>
<p>Wetherspoon sold 29 pubs and has closed 11 since the start of the financial year. Just 13 new pubs were started by the company, with another 16 “expected to open” within the same time period. No surprise therefore that the company is forecasting £13m of exceptional, non-cash losses in this financial year, mainly associated with pub disposals and closures. So it is not exactly a financial success story.</p>
<p>The picture is gloomier when you look beyond the books. Like other pub-chains, Wetherspoon maximises profit for its shareholders by renting estates and selling beer <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-rules-may-help-publicans-but-they-wont-save-your-local-27653">at the highest possible prices</a>. This business model has been under pressure since the last financial crisis, however, with almost all pub chains <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/03/02/british-pubs-vanishing/1928749/">incurring losses</a>. This has led to significant disinvestment, ownership changes <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/aug/18/punch-taverns-investors-rescue-plan">and several pub closures</a>.</p>
<p>Plus the tenants of pub chains tend to struggle financially, with many generating a profit well below minimum wage. The Institute for Public Policy and Research think tank <a href="http://www.ippr.org/files/images/media/files/publication/2011/08/tieddown_Aug2011_7878.pdf?noredirect=1">reported</a> that 46% of publicans tied to a chain, earned less than £15,000 a year, in contrast to only 22% of non-tied publicans.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131262/original/image-20160720-31121-1ebts9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131262/original/image-20160720-31121-1ebts9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131262/original/image-20160720-31121-1ebts9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131262/original/image-20160720-31121-1ebts9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131262/original/image-20160720-31121-1ebts9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131262/original/image-20160720-31121-1ebts9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131262/original/image-20160720-31121-1ebts9s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Wetherspoon pub advocating Brexit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/duncan/27305590702/in/photolist-HAUhNA">duncan c/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Economic uncertainty</h2>
<p>Despite the situation in the industry, Martin strongly believes that Brexit will restore democracy in the UK, and his business and more generally the country’s economic prospects will improve. I am not sure what type of democracy Martin is referring to. The UK is a constitutional monarchy in which political, financial and economic decisions are proposed by an elected government and approved upon debates taking place in an elected parliament. This was the same situation it had before the EU referendum and I am eager to believe that the fallout from Brexit will not undermine or alter this democratic system. </p>
<p>But the economic uncertainty brought by the vote is likely to affect Britain at least until the new government triggers <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/article-50">Article 50</a> and formally makes its intentions to leave the EU clear. Financial markets don’t like uncertainty, and neither do consumers or households. This is something Martin should worry about for his business, as it will reduce many people’s willingness to drink and dine out. </p>
<p>The assumption that democratic systems always outperform non-democratic ones also needs to be carefully considered with regard to economics. For instance, I would be curious to know Martin’s opinion of how <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-whats-going-on-with-chinas-economy-53404">China’s economic growth</a> has outpaced most Western democracies over the past 30 years.</p>
<p>Naturally, growth does not always goes hand-in-hand with economic prosperity, which may also take into account wider advancement across society, including citizens’ quality of life and well-being. Take the NHS, whose funding was a matter of fervent debate during the referendum campaign. Many advocated Brexit in order to redirect more public money to support it. Yet the health systems of countries such as <a href="http://twas.org/article/oman-transforming-health-care">Oman</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-us-can-learn-from-cuba-during-obamas-historic-visit-55906">Cuba</a>, which aren’t exactly democratic, score exceptionally well in comparison with other democratic countries.</p>
<p>So concepts such as economic growth, prosperity and democracy need more careful scrutiny. We can only hope that Martin is proved right about his positive attitude towards leaving the EU. In terms of the impact it has on wider British society, Brexit could be of Magna Carta proportions. And whether this will be good or bad will be the topic of millions debates in pubs across the UK – and far beyond.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62718/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>In the past, Ignazio Cabras has received funding from British Academy and the Vintners Federation of Ireland. </span></em></p>Wetherspoon chief Tim Martin is so excited about Brexit he’s called it a ‘new Magna Carta' – but do his sums add up?Ignazio Cabras, Professor, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/459882015-08-13T13:14:01Z2015-08-13T13:14:01ZClubs and bars are closing but has anything really changed?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91744/original/image-20150813-21413-1brqd82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C83%2C3254%2C1890&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A scene from the past.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Britain’s night-time economy appears to be in a state of decline if recent headlines are anything to go by. Nearly half of the UK’s clubs have closed their doors <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/33713015/uk-nightclubs-closing-at-alarming-rate-industry-figures-suggest">in the past decade</a> and pubs are closing at a rate of <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/britains-pub-closing-rate-29-6095663">29 a week</a>.</p>
<p>But the night-time economy has always been a contentious area. On the one hand pubs, bars and clubs produce income and jobs <a href="http://www.tbr.co.uk/pages/tbr-observatory/night-time-economy.php">for thousands of people</a>. Meanwhile its downsides have always included crime and the fear of crime, overstretched ambulances and A&E, street cleaning around licensed premises, noise and light pollution and the potential for the sale of alcohol <a href="http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/alcohol_consumption_0.pdf">to underage people</a>.</p>
<p>Efforts have long been made to manage this – increasingly so in recent years. City centres have <a href="http://www.streetpastors.org/">street pastors</a> and <a href="http://www.taximarshalls.com/">taxi marshals</a> to watch out for people on busy drinking nights, and some cities such as Birmingham have even introduced measures to breathalyse people who appear drunk <a href="http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/41-birmingham-pubs-breathalyse-customers-8587512">before they enter clubs</a>. </p>
<p>The alcohol industry has also played its part with initiatives such as <a href="http://www.bbnuk.com/">Best Bar None</a> that promote responsible management and operation of businesses with an alcohol licences. Supported by the Home Office, its remit is to reduce crime and disorderly behaviour around alcohol premises. And retailers have pioneered initiatives <a href="http://www.communityalcoholpartnerships.co.uk/about">such as community alcohol partnerships</a> and <a href="http://www.challenge25.org/">Challenge 25</a> to reduce underage drinking.</p>
<h2>More than neighbourhood complaints</h2>
<p>So there’s probably more to the seeming decline of Britain’s nightclubs than anti-social behaviour and noise complaints – which is the reason <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11794636/Half-of-UK-nightclubs-close-in-ten-years-as-Brits-abandon-rave-culture.html">given by Kate Nicholls</a>, the chief executive of the association of Licensed Multiple Retailers. Some blame the competition from the introduction of longer licensing hours for pubs from 2005, but on the other hand the number of pubs has dwindled from 69,000 in 1980 <a>to less than 50,000 today</a>. Ironically they too may have suffered from noise complaints <a href="http://www.beerandpub.com/hot-topics/make-some-noise">due to later opening hours</a>.</p>
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<p>Other reasons given for the decline in pubs and clubs have included: the smoking ban, student tuition fees, the increase in music festivals and pre-loading (drinking cheap supermarket alcohol before going out and therefore spending less in the clubs). Then there is the demand for pub properties, which are increasingly being converted <a href="http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/main-topics/general-news/joining-the-inn-crowd-more-pubs-face-converting-to-houses-1-7068689">for residential purposes</a>.</p>
<h2>Contradictory trends</h2>
<p>But at the same time the beer industry is said to be enjoying a resurgence, currently employing 869,000 people, with the advent of numerous independent breweries such as London Fields Brewery and Camden Town Brewery. The minister for local government in charge of community pubs, Marcus Jones, <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/uk-enjoying-beer-boom-as-new-brewery-opens-every-two-days-a2344801.html">says</a>: “Britain is back on the map as a global brewing powerhouse with three breweries opening up every week.” The increase in, and popularity of, microbreweries has doubtless played its part in this success story.</p>
<p>So what do these apparently contradictory trends tell us about the consumer who used to go clubbing? Well there is doubtless truth in the different reasons put forward for the decline of clubs but perhaps one should also consider them as part of a historical trajectory in consumer culture. All leisure activities are subject to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune alongside environmental and legislative changes. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91745/original/image-20150813-21413-3oz60j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91745/original/image-20150813-21413-3oz60j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91745/original/image-20150813-21413-3oz60j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91745/original/image-20150813-21413-3oz60j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91745/original/image-20150813-21413-3oz60j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91745/original/image-20150813-21413-3oz60j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91745/original/image-20150813-21413-3oz60j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Festivals such as Glastonbury are eating up young people’s disposable income.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mojobaron/4748568850/in/photolist-8eBE5J-4yBuWh-dPHuqk-dPP7Hb-6zEE6B-dPP8Zy-8eCP1m-4gmcxj-cZ8Xy7-5DuoGp-8nxy4k-5HokbU-8nxZ7e-dbiETp-dPLinA-dPHtZg-6AJNMS-6AEzmH-5XWLRc-dPHvKk-dPLgAC-8e75SB-dPECqr-8e5sQM-8e5u2M-6AEEm8-d24Nzy-bVUUx7-4yDEbd-okuyKo-7LHE1E-8nB8jE-dujaSM-8nxNnk-8nxZ44-a2LEpe-8e9mQS-dPP8zf-CnAVx-6AJRzy-5hUkX3-5Hj7Ee-5HpDP3-8Dkmfi-8eBTa5-8e9nXL-6AEzcM-dbiWuV-5HoNBy-5HqGq1">MojoBaron</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the 1920s nightclubs such as the Embassy and KitKat Club were almost exclusively for the rich, aristocratic and famous. Since then clubs have been commodified along with all manner of other goods and services that were once the preserve of the wealth. And, along with them, they have become subject to the mass market and its vagaries. </p>
<p>This, alongside the impact of legislative changes, has played its part in the changing night-time economy. For example, in the 1980s and 1990s young people enjoyed free parties and a <a href="http://prb.sagepub.com/content/51/4/309.refs">preference for ecstasy over alcohol</a> but the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act effectively curtailed the free party scene and many young people had to move indoors to these commercially sanctioned clubs where alcohol consumption was promoted. </p>
<p>Young people in particular are affected by cost and fashion. So what are they doing if the trend in nightclubbing is waning? The growth of music festivals will have been important for those who go out at night primarily for the music. But a music festival is expensive and so some probably have to replace a couple of good festivals with weeks of clubbing. </p>
<p>Cash-strapped students may well be buying cheap alcohol from the supermarket and staying in for a Netflix binge or having house parties, while those working could be frequenting microbreweries or switching to healthier pastimes and training for their next triathlon. Nightclubs and pubs, like most products, <a href="http://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/product-life-cycle.html">have their lifecycle</a>. </p>
<p>So what does the future look like for clubs? As Sheryl Garratt former editor of The Face <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/11796549/Does-the-death-of-clubbing-mean-the-death-of-creativity.html">notes</a>, even the internet has had a role in their decline as people searching for like minded others can turn to social media and apps. But these will never replace the excitement of a night out drinking and dancing with friends. It may just be in a new, different form to the big venues of recent years.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45988/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabelle Szmigin receives funding from the European Foundation for Alcohol Research and Alcohol Research UK. She is a member of the Portman Group's independent complaints panel.
</span></em></p>Britain’s night-time economy appears to be in a state of decline if recent headlines are anything to go by. Nearly half of the UK’s clubs have closed their doors in the past decade and pubs are closing…Isabelle Szmigin, Professor of Marketing, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/276532014-06-09T04:42:27Z2014-06-09T04:42:27ZNew rules may help publicans, but they won’t save your local<p>Many publicans who run pubs owned by large companies earn less than the minimum wage. After years of complaints, finally the government has done something to address this situation. But the regulations may not have the intended effect. </p>
<p>The new measures, announced in the Queen’s speech, target companies that own a large number of pubs. These so-called “pubcos” were themselves a by-product of a political decision. In 1989, the Monopolies and Mergers Commission decided a few major brewers had too much power over the UK’s pub industry. Parliament then issued the so-called “<a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmtrdind/128/12805.htm">Beer Orders</a>” which forced large breweries (controlling about 80% of pubs at that time) to either sell their brewery business or their pubs.</p>
<p>Left without much choice, breweries were then forced to sell their pubs at very attractive prices, leading to the rise of large pubcos dedicated to selling beer rather than making it. Naturally, the main objective of pubcos was to maximise profit for their shareholders by renting their estates and selling beer at the highest possible prices. </p>
<p>This business model quickly became the dominant standard, with pubcos owning about <a href="http://www.beerandpub.com/shop/the-statistical-handbook-2013">55% of all pubs</a> by 2011. These pubs are “tied”, which means they can only buy beer from the pubco, generally at inflated prices, rather than buying it on the open market. In contrast, free houses are able to choose the beers they stock and where they buy it.</p>
<p>In the same year, the <a href="http://www.ippr.org/publications/tied-down-the-beer-tie-and-its-impact-on-britains-pubs">think-tank IPPR reported</a> 46% of tied publicans earned less than £15,000 per year, in contrast to only 22% of non-tied publicans. Among tied publicans, 88% identified the beer tie as one of the most significant factors in their financial problems.</p>
<p>The pubcos themselves aren’t doing too well either. Some of the largest chains have lost a lot of money in recent years, leading to significant disinvestment, ownership changes and several pub closures. </p>
<p>As a result, of about 46,000 pubs in the UK today two fifths are now owned by pubcos, two fifths free-houses and the rest by breweries. But despite this rebalance in the market away from breweries towards private landlords and the introduction of self-regulative bodies to monitor the industry, many tenants still struggle financially. Some only manage a “profit” well below the minimum wage.</p>
<h2>Help at hand?</h2>
<p>Over the past four years the government has recognised the problem, conducting several consultations with pubs and the brewing industry. The main dispute highlighted in this work was over the introduction of a mandatory “free-of-tie” option. This would give tenants and lessees the freedom to purchase their beers from other suppliers rather than their renting companies. The tie is one of the reasons why almost all the beer in your local tends to be from the same brewery – for example Timothy Taylor’s pubs primarily stock Timothy Taylor’s beer.</p>
<p>Freeing the ties between publicans and their owners has been advocated by several tenant associations and the ale-drinker’s consumer organisation CAMRA, which argues that the tie is an unfair instrument used by pubcos to squeeze profits out of their publicans. Ironically, a policy instituted by the Monopolies Commission had led to a situation where those running pubs were subjected to their own personal monopoly on potential suppliers.</p>
<p>However, fierce opposition emerged from major pubcos and industry organisations such as the British Beer and Pubs Association (BBPA), which predicted <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/265460/Tied_Pubs_Final_Report.pdf">high financial losses</a> and pub closures due to reduced revenues. For pubcos, the BBPA argued, the tie represented a significant means for companies to generate profits to be reinvested into their estates.</p>
<p>The government proposes to introduce a core statutory code for all tied tenants in the sector, and an “enhanced code”, covering tenants tied to the largest pubcos. The enhanced code gives existing tenants the right to request an assessment from an independent adjudicator appointed to assess whether the contract negotiated with the pubco is better tied or free-of-tie. According to the government’s response, tenants will be able to discuss more suitable terms due to third party involvement. </p>
<p>These moves do hand more power to publicans in their struggle with big pubcos, but they represent a rejection of the mandatory free-of-tie option. The government has justified its decision by pointing to potential turbulence in the industry if large pubcos were hit hard by the loss of tied tenants. </p>
<p>The code also fails to include a “guest-beer option”, which would have given tenants freedom to purchase at least one beer of their choice from other suppliers. The pubcos argued this would have tempted many tied pubs to buy their best-selling beer outside their tenancy contract, depriving pubcos of valuable income.</p>
<p>Compared to 1989, this is a very cautionary step; the proposal still leaves some significant bargaining power in the hands of the largest pubcos. It is easy to see why the tied model wasn’t scrapped altogether though – it would have hit the largest pubcos hard, increasing the risk of closures and possibly doing more harm than good. That said, the number of pubs today is already a few thousands above the market’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/265460/Tied_Pubs_Final_Report.pdf">sustainable limit</a>.</p>
<p>But there is a more important aspect the government continues to overlook – delivering concrete measures in support of community pubs. These businesses are <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/pubs/10670002/Englands-little-pubs-need-to-be-protected.html">praised for their positive</a> impact on rural and urban areas due to the social outlets and economic opportunities they provide. Whether closures hit tied pubs or free-houses, their losses have a <a href="https://theconversation.com/glass-half-empty-as-4-000-pubs-prepare-for-last-orders-17964">devastating impact on the communities they serve</a>. </p>
<p>Under current legislation and planning regulations it is still too easy to turn pubs into something else, either different businesses or private dwellings. Aside from regulating the market, the government should work to preserve the disappearance of pubs that represent assets for many British communities. Saving pubs where it really matters should be the main goal.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27653/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ignazio Cabras receives funding from the British Academy and Vintners Federations of Ireland. He is affiliated with CAMRA.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Mount does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many publicans who run pubs owned by large companies earn less than the minimum wage. After years of complaints, finally the government has done something to address this situation. But the regulations…Ignazio Cabras, Reader in Economics, Business and Management, Northumbria University, NewcastleMatthew Mount, Research Associate in Innovation Management, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/250512014-04-02T05:08:40Z2014-04-02T05:08:40ZGoing to the pub could solve our drinking problem<p>Rarely a day passes without another horror story about the UK’s drinking problem: alcohol-related violence, debauchery in city centres, record demand on A&E resources, a liver disease epidemic and families wrecked by addiction. Criminologists, health professionals, sociologists and politicians appear on news programmes, pointing the finger at individual over-indulgence and calling for ever stricter measures: <a href="https://theconversation.com/ban-on-below-cost-alcohol-sales-would-be-40-times-less-effective-than-minimum-pricing-21865">minimum pricing</a>, tougher consumption guidelines, <a href="http://news.sky.com/story/1138596/sky-poll-drunk-a-and-e-patients-should-be-charged">charging drunkards</a> for medical help and restricted pub opening hours.</p>
<p>This is all very worthy and sensible, as <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/alcohol/Pages/Effectsofalcohol.aspx">the grave costs</a> of alcohol abuse can be readily quantified. And yet, our approach to the problem is partial and (historically) short-sighted. The general public may be excused for believing that the situation has never been so bad, but similarly intense concerns have been voiced before. Today, one effective response might be to go beyond tighter controls and to bolster a time-honoured British institution: the pub.</p>
<p>Taking a long-term view, average drinking volume figures were actually much higher in the past, with at least 600 litres of ale or beer consumed per head each year on average in the Renaissance (as calculated <a href="http://tsup.truman.edu/item.asp?itemId=416">from surviving household accounts</a>), compared <a href="http://www.brewersofeurope.org/">to a mere 74 litres</a> in the UK in 2011. Given the question marks over alcohol volumes and data recording, such comparisons can never be precise, but the basic observation stands.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45314/original/j38t863t-1396360756.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45314/original/j38t863t-1396360756.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45314/original/j38t863t-1396360756.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45314/original/j38t863t-1396360756.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45314/original/j38t863t-1396360756.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45314/original/j38t863t-1396360756.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45314/original/j38t863t-1396360756.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hogarth’s view of 18th century street boozing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:William_Hogarth_-_Gin_Lane.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rather than a unique crisis, what we are witnessing today is the latest of a series of moral panics which have gripped Europe since the Middle Ages, most notably in the Reformation period of the 16th century (spurred by religious fervour – no lesser figure than Martin Luther preached against the “<a href="http://standardbearer.rfpa.org/articles/sermon-soberness-and-moderation">piggish</a>” excess of his compatriots), during the Enlightenment (boosted by a utilitarian concern about human health) and in the industrialisation of the Victorian age (out of fears for the destitution of the working classes). Invariably, the very foundations of society appeared to be at risk.</p>
<h2>Social drinking</h2>
<p>Two main features, I would argue, distinguish the current situation from historical precedents: the growth in individual domestic consumption and the greater visibility of heavy female drinking. </p>
<p>In pre-modern times before 1800, there were hardly any shops selling alcoholic beverages and drinking was above all a convivial activity. Much <a href="http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754603412">related research</a> points to the “positive” social functions of sharing a pint: hardly a business deal and certainly no feast day passed without a gathering at the local alehouse. And during these feast days, as we can tell from the written and <a href="http://www.wga.hu/art/b/bruegel/pieter_y/villagef.jpg">visual evidence</a>, young and old people, men and women, rich and poor congregated in and around these communication hubs. Sole drinking, away from the public gaze, was frowned upon and excessive indulgence (especially when leading to violence) was subject to informal social control. There were many tensions, certainly, but <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_English_Alehouse.html?id=svCBAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">the overall impression</a> is of a problem contained.</p>
<p>Now we have large numbers of people drinking heavily at home, often alone and without any checks on volume or behaviour. The habit is facilitated by (not just cheap) <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/04/sale-ultra-cheap-alcohol-banned">booze stacked on supermarket shelves</a>. In town centres, on the other hand, we see the unprecedented phenomenon of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/5533344/Number-of-ladette-women-fined-for-drunk-and-disorderly-behaviour-rises-by-a-third.html">collective female drunkenness</a>. In pre-modern times, women were expected to drink moderately, in line with period beliefs in their weaker physical constitution and social pressure to maintain their sexual honour. Such gender prejudices and inequalities have largely been consigned to the historical dustbin (although <a href="http://www.alternet.org/gender/americas-booze-hypocrisy-guys-can-brag-about-getting-drunk-while-tipsy-women-are-asking">they persist</a> in some quarters), but – from the point of view of alcohol studies – the apparent peer acceptability of heavy female consumption is a striking innovation.</p>
<p>Rather than being viewed as a cause of the problem, the pub should be seen as a solution. At current rates, <a href="https://theconversation.com/glass-half-empty-as-4-000-pubs-prepare-for-last-orders-17964">dozens are disappearing</a> every week, capitulating in the face of supermarket competition and an ever-growing range of leisure alternatives. Apart from home consumption, drinking has shifted to specialised, group-specific contexts like bars, clubs, parks and shopping malls. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45295/original/hfpcx2nq-1396349904.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45295/original/hfpcx2nq-1396349904.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45295/original/hfpcx2nq-1396349904.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45295/original/hfpcx2nq-1396349904.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45295/original/hfpcx2nq-1396349904.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45295/original/hfpcx2nq-1396349904.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45295/original/hfpcx2nq-1396349904.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pint and a pigeon please, guv'nor.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lens_envy/9308871465/sizes/l">Lens envy</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Is it mere nostalgic romanticism to call for sustained efforts to stem this trend? </p>
<p>Instead of placing all our trust in government/coercive measures, we might just have to go to the pub more often, reclaim it as a socially inclusive space, bring our friends/business partners/relatives/kids and restore its historical role as a community centre. So, yes, let’s keep banging on about health hazards and social costs of excessive consumption, but we also need to remember that without a decent pub – this widely-recognised “<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4952920.stm">icon of England</a>” – no village or neighbourhood is likely to prosper. </p>
<p>Over the centuries, publicans have learnt to weather storms and adapt to changing demands, but today they really could do with a helping hand from responsible patrons.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25051/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beat Kümin received funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation to conduct research on early modern public houses. He is a co-founder of the 'Warwick Drinking Studies Network' (<a href="http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wdsn">http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wdsn</a>).</span></em></p>Rarely a day passes without another horror story about the UK’s drinking problem: alcohol-related violence, debauchery in city centres, record demand on A&E resources, a liver disease epidemic and…Beat Kümin, Professor of History, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.