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

[SullivanCh]

What made me write this is my grandparents kept a town centre pub in the 40s and 50s. My dad grew up in the pub. My Dad said that his parents - who died before I was born - used to provide Xmas dinner every year for homeless men and cater for those at the margins of society. This has got me thinking lately.

It seems to me pubs at the time - the 40s/50s - then fulfilled one of functions that the internet now fills - helping marginalized people feel included and integrated.

i started drinking in pubs in 1990 - it’s been widely written about that pub attendance and culture have diminished since this time - I’ve seen it myself with pubs I grew up with in my local area closing etc etc .

People often suggest that pub culture declined a lot following the smoking ban - this may be right but personally I think the internet was more responsible for killing pub culture. Not just to help lonely or marginalised people like I mentioned above, but the internet helps people in general interact and connect from the comfort of their own homes - where drinks and snacks are cheaper, everything’s less hassle etc etc …,

So maybe you all disagree with me but I feel the internet has a lot to do with the demise of the pub - more than the smoking ban I think. Any thoughts?

I would argue that the Internet killed the radio star more than video, but that’s not your question…🤣

I don’t know. In my neck of the woods (inner south east London) the pubs seem to be doing a pretty roaring trade. But I know that rural pubs struggle.

Where in the country are you talking about?

I think that pubs are dying out because of larger economics. People can’t afford an alcohol habit or to go out to eat every week.

im talking about Cardiff and Newport South Wales!

However I’m familiar with inner south east London as my mum is from there - all her family live around

Plumstead
Abbey Wood
Thamesmead
Charlton
Lee

It's mainly the price I reckon. Everyone knows you can buy a four pack in the supermarket for the price of one pint in a pub. People tend to just around to eachother's houses on a Friday/Saturday night now.

Well, apart from Lee I wouldn’t call most of that inner 🤣. I’m zone 2 so more central than Lee. Abbey Wood is a world away from me, and I can imagine the pub scene is very different.

I agree with this, and I’d also add younger people being more aware of the health risks of excessive drinking. Most of the 20 somethings I know are fairly health conscious, and that’s due to the internet.

YANBU, but I don’t think it was the internet alone. The huge increase in prices had a lot to do with it as well. It’s very sad. I remember lots of older men whose only regular human contact was from going to pubs that have since closed, so there must be a lot more loneliness then there used to be.

Ah fair enough yes

The Borough is a nice old pub in Cardiff Op.

Ah yes it definitely is! Been there for ages as well

Coming up over £6 a pint where I live - can’t justify that cost anymore

Internet killed the pub discussions...

Used to be a table of debate now it's Google says xyz.

I wouldn’t ascribe advances in health consciousness to the internet. If it were not for the internet, they would have gotten the same information by any of the other mediums we have.

I must admit - what I really miss are the flat roof ‘estate’ pubs like in the Chatsworth Estate in Shameless!

It’s particularly those sorts of pubs that have really declined I think

A bottle of wine in the supermarket costs the same as a glass of wine in the pub.. maybe that's why

When I grew up in the 70’s and eighties, there wasn’t the same culture of drinking at home that we have now and the supermarkets didn’t sell much in the way of wine and beer.

There has obviously been massive social changes, but personally, I would blame Tesco before I blamed the internet.

FwIW I was in middle school when the Buggles song came out, and remember our teacher using it as a sound track for an assembly about canal transport being taken over by the railways.

"People" tend to, do they? Have you done a survey?

The laws relating to drinking and driving certainly killed off rural pubs.

The smartphone, specifically the cameras coupled with social media had put an entire generation of young people off ever getting drunk so they stayed away from pubs. And lockdown all but killed them off entirely.

More women working and expecting more from men is what killed it. More palatable to blame a gov initiative than women though.

We earn more equally now so we have more of a say, and most women don't want to

1. be in the pub every week,
2. Expect to put dinner on the table and wait nicely for the blokes to come home after the pub that they stop in every night after work.

I think the smoking ban originally killed the pub, most people who smoked then, have given up, but the generation afterwards didn't bother with the pub.

Also lack of nightclubs, we always had a lot of choice, 80's nightclubs, over 25's, etc nowadays most are shut down, the ones that are open have young 18+ usually full of drugs.

I go out to different occasionally, every quarter, but I find people are gone wild.

@TranceNation I completely agree.

I don’t think the smoking ban killed pubs. In 2007 only 21% of people smoked, which is only a 1% difference on today.

I think habits have just changed. Back in the day you’d meet your friends for a drink in the pub. People want more now if they go out. Friends meet for meals, or spa days, or theatre trips, or city breaks. Nobody is content with a humble drink in the local anymore.

@SaladSandwichesForTeaI disagree. My dp would much prefer a couple of drinks in the kitchen of a Friday night, I would much prefer going to the pub! Also 0 of the men we are friends with would expect their dinner on the table after being at the pub every night after work.

Very old school way of thinking in my opinion.

Interesting points you make there

Also housing is more comfortable and warm and perhaps people went to pub as home was overcrowded and cold and no tv. I’m thinking more of earlier in 20th century