Is it really our "patriotic duty" to support the pub?

According to Boris Johnson it's a "patriotic duty" to support the pub.

Writing in the Telegraph today, assistant comment editor Madeline Grant agreed:

It's our patriotic duty to go to the pub, and save one of Britain's last great institutions

But is it?

I regret the decline of the pub but it's decades since I was a regular pub goer, by which I mean several times a week if not every day.

When I was in my twenties and living and working in London it was the norm to have a drink with friends or colleagues straight after work.

Quite often we’d go to the pub for a lunchtime pint as well but, it has to be said, there were fewer options in those days and drinking at lunchtime wasn't frowned upon by employers.

Life intervened as well. Suddenly you’ve got small children and time in the pub after work is harder to justify.

There’s also the question of drinking and driving which becomes a problem when you move out of town and commute to work by train, which means you have to drive home from the station.

Two or three pints after work is no longer advisable. More than that and it’s potentially reckless.

In Scotland even a pint might now result in a failed breathalyser. In England it would be closer to two but I wouldn't want to take the risk.

You can't blame the pubs for that but there's another issue that many smokers will relate to.

Why should it be their "patriotic duty" to support an institution that did so little to oppose the smoking ban and whose trade association blocked a proposal to exempt private members' clubs, including working men's clubs?

Also, why should they listen to politicians (even a tolerant, socially liberal one like Boris Johnson) who, even if they opposed the smoking ban at the time, have done nothing to amend it so publicans can provide designated smoking rooms or comfortable outdoor smoking areas that offer proper shelter from the worst of Britain's weather?

Some might argue too that it's a bit rich for the PM to call upon smokers to carry out their "patriotic duty" when, for the most part, it means being exiled not to a place where they can light up in comfort but to some grubby outdoor space or even the pavement.

Rather than agreeing to support pubs unconditionally, I think decisions like that can only be made on a pub by pub basis.

In other words, if you value your local pub and it provides a service to the local community (and accommodates smokers as well as non-smokers to the best of its ability), then it probably deserves your support.

If however smokers are made to feel unwelcome or second class then stuff it (and tell the owner or manager why).

One thing you do need to be aware of is that once a pub closes it very rarely re-opens. The property may be sold off to a new owner who may turn it into a shop or private dwelling, and then it's gone for good.

Anyway, Madeline Grant will be one of a panel of guest speakers on the next Forest webinar when I hope to discuss this issue from all sides.

Details, including the date, coming soon.