To think video may have killed the radio star but the internet killed the pub!

Prices killed the pubs. Prices have risen faster than wages have. An average weekly wage bought the equivalent of 270 pints in 1975. Today the average weekly wage buys just under a hundred pints. Clearly nobody should be spending their whole pay packet on drinking, but you get the point.

Cost is a large part, but also a lot of men are more involved in family life and their relationships now so that reduces the pub too. Men are more likely to have a bbq with their friends and friends partners than go to the pub with just their male friends and leave the wife at home with the DC.

I didn't answer the op but basically I think I mean that the overall way we live killed the pub, not just the internet!

When I was growing up, my Dad went to the pub 8 times a week! That was in the 80s. My parents are divorced, by the way 😆
It's not really accepted these days for guys to spend every evening in the pub while wives stay at home. So pubs had to diversify and offer decent food to attract whole families, plus there's not much margin on just beer so if you don't have enough footfall, you've got to do good food and make your money on that. Round here, the ones doing well have gone down the gastro route, while the others have mainly closed unless they're in a busy town centre and get the volume of customers needed.

Pubs had already begun to decline before both the smoking ban and the internet IMO. A lot of the pubs where I was living in the 1990s closed or became 'family friendly'/started doing food. It was diversify or die as their older clientele began to disappear and weren't replaced with new ones.

The rise of supermarkets selling cheap booze had more impact, I think.

Young people used to do the pubs before the clubs. My sister and I would be out in the pubs from 8pm until the clubs got going at about 11pm. My brother who is 15 years younger than me would get tanked up at home, then go to the club. Because by the time he reached the age of clubbing, it was much cheaper for him to do that than spend a few hours at the pub first.

The old business of the men going to the pub whilst the wife cooked Sunday dinner, or popping in for a swift one after work was already in decline. My generation (x) wasn't having any of that, we wanted to be down the pub, too. And we were until we had kids, mortgages, etc and just couldn't justify spending money on drinks out when it was cheaper to drink at home. Hence the 'family friendly, gastro pub' era started, to get us back in even if it wasn't to drink the place dry anymore.

So the next generation, who wasn't brought up so much with the traditional idea of 'going down the pub with your mates' hasn't the same understanding of 'pub culture'.

I think it's sad in a way, but times change. It's not any one thing, the internet probably been a bit of a last nail in the coffin, but that idea of the pub as a community hub to have a social drink has been lost for a while now. Not everywhere, but in a lot of places.

The young people I know might complain about the price of a drink, yet have professionally done nails and eyebrows and have a gym membership and eat out once in a while
Isn’t it because out of the things you listed, the pub is the one that can be easily reproduced at home for a fraction of the price?

Many factors but the main one for me is that men are now expected to do their part at home instead of drinking at the pub while their wife cooks them dinner and looks after the kids.
Also the fact that we now know how bad alcohol is for us / we want to be more healthy.

No opinion on pubs but I have a persistent earworm in my head now so thanks OP

I think this depends on the type of pub. The days of workmen drinking half their weeks wages while their wives keep a dinner warm for them until they decide to come home are gone, I think this has been a general society shift and a good one too. Rural pubs were affected more by the laws around drink driving. As for younger people I think the Internet is responsible. I used to catch up with friends to get their news, first thing we would do after returning from holiday or after a first date or after a stressful event would be to phone and arrange to meet in the pub. Now with SM and access to each other's photos, those catch ups are not as necessary. I'm not sure about the cost element, I think its more priority changes. The young people I know might complain about the price of a drink, yet have professionally done nails and eyebrows and have a gym membership and eat out once in a while. In my day (90s) the drink money would have been priority for most, no one had the money to eat out, that was something your parents did not 19/20 yr olds.

I also think the pub culture increased a lot and peaked in early 00s. It seemed to explode in 90s where i lived. I'd be interested to know what the stats are if we compared today to the early 80s, perhaps it's a rise and fall model.

I think YABU.

Firstly, I do think you are over romanticising the role of pubs. Your family pub might have catered for the homeless at Christmas but not all did. And some still do. There is/was certainly a community element to them.

I think the Internet has ruined a lot of things, but I'm not sure the pub is one of them. I worked in a 'local' pub in the late 90s. It was nearly all the same people, largely men, drinking the same drinks, sitting in the same seats. Often they would drive home after I know they had had 7 or 8 pints!

I think there have been big societal shifts that have moved people away from pubs, at least as frequently as they used to go:

• men going to work then going to the pub every night is not acceptable to most family set ups.
• drinking all night and driving home is no longer acceptable.
• even before the current cost of living crisis, I don't think people can really afford to be out drinking every night.
• we all know being out drinking all night isn't good for our health!

I don't think it's the case that pubs have died, just that the frequency with which people go has declined massively. In rural areas that might be a big issue. But in busier locations, it's probably fine.

The internet didn't kill the pub people just aren't that interested in drinking these days that's why there's so many zero alcohol drinks now people would rather do other things 😊

We were used to going to the pub in our teens and twenties, as students. What put us off eventually, was the price. On Sunday, we had 2 soft drinks and a packet of peanuts each for £8.15, because we were doing a long drive and were thirsty.

We would rather eat in a pub, on a meal deal each for £10 with a drink. It saves us cooking and washing up, and we feel we had a treat. We might as well buy soft drinks and a snack to have at home, for a quarter of the price - the pub doesn’t save any effort, and it’s not a treat in the same way!

Don’t know any pubs struggling. In fact, went out for a pub crawl on Saturday there and there were at least 12 other groups (that I counted, marked separate by their co/ordinated dress up outfits) doing the same pub crawl at the same time I was there. Which was only 1pm btw.

All my locals and regulars are always heaving on Fridays and Saturdays and well sustained throughout the week. If your locals are closing I think it’s an issue with the pub themselves rather than people not drinking. Or as PP said, the rising costs making it harder to afford.

Certainly don’t understand how it’s anything to do with internet.

Ah yes forgot that one, keeping kids away from them and staying home with them

Cost killed the pub. I used to be able to go out and get drunk all weekend on £30 with money to spare in the late 90’s. That’s not possible now.

This was us, didnt go much when the children were young. Now they've grown up with have a busy social life. Not just to pubs but we do go.

Not all pub food is frozen rubbish if you go to the nicer places.

I loved going to the pub of an evening but pregnancy and parenting killed it off. I hope to return to the pub when I’m done with the hard yards, I miss it a lot

Prices, cost of living, increasing lack of free time, less drinking alcohol and less childcare/more understanding of children needing structure and bed time are all contributers. Internet probably has impacted a lot of things including going to watch events in pubs but it's certainly not the only thing.

Agree. And the cost of hearing them now must be astronomical. It's so sad as they are the one last thing we have left to provide a sense of community. A true British tradition. If I were in Government I'd try and help them with all sorts of cuts and incentives.

What killed the pub ? IMO

Lack of ability to smoke.
Cost of alcohol which is horrendous these days.
Good sports TV at home on the big screen.

Why does anyone bother to go to the pub to watch sports for example when you can get a better view from the sofa and it will cost you a fraction of the price in cans of beer ?

I think lifestyle changes and cost of living are behind the change. I am mid 40s. Dh and I definitely grew up in a go to the pub for everything era. We used to go probably 4 days a week in our 20s.

Twenty years later, I cannot think of anything more boring than sitting around in the pub. I don’t drink. Dh might have a drink or two. It’s dark and dingy in there. The food is all frozen and reheated, not as nice as I could cook myself and a whole lot more money.

If I wanted to do something I enjoy in my free time, it would be gardening, hiking, swimming, Dh would go cycling, we’d go to the beach. If I wanted to meet friends for a coffee or food, I’d be much more likely to go to a cafe. Or we go to each other’s houses, have a bbq or a campfire at home. I will go to the pub, but only under duress if someone insists.

The pubs that are booming around here are the ones that have changed with the times. Really good, niche menu offerings. Nice coffees and teas. Alcohol free drinks and fresh juices. Nice outdoor space. Ice cream cart outside for the kids in the summer. Hosting annual beer/food/music/seafood festivals. Dungeons and dragons night (I’m not kidding). Monthly book club. I saw one that’s doing a monthly [insert any popular dog breed] night, where your dog gets a free doggie ice cream if a lab, sausage dog, yorkie, whatever.

Same here.

Our local does lovely food and allows dogs in the pub area. There are some lovely walks. We're middle aged and meet friends there. Our oldest DD is very health conscious but still goes out with friends a lot.

Internet, defo stuff like dating apps, Facebook, forums
Messaging
smoking ban
Cost of pints
Drink driving laws
Less drinking, more health aware
more nice fancy bars around
less community, less knowing everyone
People marry who they want and don’t need to escape each other as much
women don’t put up with men being in the pub all the time
less industrial jobs

saying all that there are still plenty about

There are multiple reasons, and the internet is just one of those.

As well as those mentioned, one that's not come up yet is drugs. There is a great deal more cocaine consumed in the pubs near me than there used to be, which fits with the general trend in the UK of more being done. Some of the people who go in for a night out will now buy less alcohol than they used to because of it, and put some of that money towards coke. If you multiply that across a year, it's going to make a big difference.

Not very salubrious, but it's how things are in some areas. The sort of person who wants to have a big night out and has money to put towards it can buy substances other than alcohol inside the building.

I'm certainly trying, I'm very lucky to have a group of absolutely lovely regulars who keep me laughing daily. For every knob end there's plenty of stars. Our open mic night for instance is a highlight, spoiled for talent and it's like a mini concert in my living room! As a music lover it's a pleasure to host a varied range of bands, solo acts and such and we have open mic and at least one band/singer a month. Definitely highlights.