Times, they are a-changin’. When I left home nearly 15 years ago, smoking was par for the course, no-one but fanatics went to the gym, and socialising was invariably conducted over a drink or four. Since then, our cultural priorities have skewed health-wards, changing beyond recognition – yet as we collectively kick vice after vice, there’s a danger of throwing the baby out with the boozy bathwater.
In 2025, health is wealth, and young people are leading the glossy vanguard. Quite a distance from frittering away their pertest years in glorious delinquency, as tradition has hitherto dictated, a full 43 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds in the UK have given up alcohol altogether. Meanwhile, just 12 per cent of adults now smoke, compared to 45 per cent in 1974. Worst of all, everyone is clad in athleisure-wear, as though they might bolt for a spin class at any second.
Inevitably, all this diligent self-improvement is mirrored in the consumer landscape – gyms and fitness clubs are booming, while pubs are closing at a rate of six per week. The Hackney Tap in East London is one such casualty, shutting its doors last summer with the building soon to reopen as an outlet for bougie bakery chain Gail’s. Gail’s is one business undoubtedly benefiting from Britain’s newfound wholesomeness, with 150 stores already plus plans to add up to 40 more this year.
Although Hackney locals are up in arms, they arguably only have themselves to blame – after all, the switch from boozer to boulangerie is driven by consumer demand. If you buy lots of fancy coffee, cafes spring up – and if you don’t go to pubs, they shut down.
As society shifts away from alcohol, the demise of establishments that rely on selling it is no surprise – but we’re losing a lot more than just somewhere to get pissed when pubs close. I should know: I’ve been hanging out in them booze-free for the last five months (I’m pregnant), and the social arena they offer has been nothing short of a lifeline.
As someone who came of age before the country’s current health obsession kicked in, I worried that pregnancy and its attendant sobriety would put paid to my social life – but while I am pleased to report that friends and hangouts continue to be as life affirming as ever, that’s largely thanks to pubs’ uniquely convivial atmosphere.
The word pub is short for public house, and that’s how the best ones feel – somewhere you can be totally at ease, unlike the hustle and bustle of, say, a restaurant (where the pressure to justify your stay with cash is much higher, too).
While I’m aware that people meet up in cafes, they’re nothing compared to a pub for a proper catch up – the pleasure of settling in for hours, with nothing to do but chat, is somehow something only a pub can offer; turns out it’s just as sweet when one of you is nursing a ginger beer.
Chalk it up to our millennia of marinating in pub culture, the loosening effect of booze on an otherwise uptight populus, or anything you like: but Britain is at its best in pubs, whether or not you’re personally drinking.
Even as their numbers dwindle, they remain the settings for our most heartfelt conversations, our most pivotal meetings and celebrations; for maintaining the friendships that see us through life’s ups and downs. As settings, they are as enriching for an octogenarian as a new baby – certainly, I plan to take mine to one as soon as logistics/sleep deprivation permits.
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Look: no one ever confessed their deepest secrets during a lock in, or danced the night away in a chain café. Booze might be what keeps pubs afloat, but to conclude that it’s their sole selling point is to roundly misunderstand their social function. And so, with the current vogue for clean living showing no signs of slowing, I implore the country’s gym bunnies to save some of their time and cash for its pubs; I think they might even rather like what they find there.
Not only are pubs fast adapting to our abstemious preferences – I personally recommend a Virgin Mary, Guinness 0, or Botivo if you’re feeling fancy – but each one lost leaves a hole in a high street that a Gail’s just can’t fill, no matter how sour its dough.
Unless something changes, today’s young people will look up one day and wonder why they’ve got nowhere to celebrate their birthday, to break the ice with a colleague after work, to sit with strangers who – over hours – become friends. Green juice might be good for your body, but a boozer is good for the soul.
Grab some friends, run to your local, and buy a round before it’s too late – mine’s a lime soda (for now).
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