Mailwatch(ed) Forum

davidjay wrote: ↑Thu Feb 19, 2026 4:52 pm Pubs and churches. Both very English, both very popular with the Right. Both would be doing well if the people who say they like them ever went through their doors.

See also village shops.

There seems to be some obsessive narrative about pub closures being down to the government when in truth they've been closing since the war. I could give a dozen or more reasons, everything from post-industrialisation to Netflix, but the biggest one is that people, especially young people, don't drink anywhere near as much anymore. Maybe it's cost, maybe it's a reaction to the binge drinking of the previous generation, but the pub-going habit has been lost. Yet still the slur continues, with CAMRA being the biggest culprit. They won't tackle the PubCos and Tim Martin but they will attack the government.

I dumped my CAMRA membership: one could argue that it has achieved its original aims therefore it doesn't really need to exist now.

Boiler wrote: ↑Thu Feb 19, 2026 10:38 pm I dumped my CAMRA membership: one could argue that it has achieved its original aims therefore it doesn't really need to exist now.

I wouldn't agree with that, as proper beer and pubs still need to be promoted but their clear agenda puts me off. It seems that they'll attack anyone who's remote (government, international brewing conglomerates) but anyone who might do them a few favours (mid-sized brewers, JDW) get a free pass. Then there's their members, many of whom are a right royal pain in the arse.