Fuck your shit wine bars, and your gastro pubs – you can’t beat a traditional public house. Throughout my life, moving from place to place, you could always get to know the area and meet people by drinking in the local pub. A local pub can be a centre point for a local community for those who frequent. 

I always get excited visiting a new pub – what beer do they have, the décor, the smell and what food – full marks to a pub that stills sells a ham roll on the bar. The disappointment when you realise its full of middle class wankers, blaring out Coldplay with a menu that’s no cheaper than 12 quid for a shit burger that’s allegedly been hand reared by some Cotswold farmer who knows Jeremy Clarkson don’t you know. Those who know me realise I only drink in ‘untrendy’ places, enjoying the atmosphere of an establishment that hasn’t been gentrified. It’s places like these that help keep history alive – every old pub has a tale, and by closing them destroys a little bit of this country’s heritage.

Recent legislation and greedy breweries have threatened our national heritage, and pubs are closing all over the country. You can guarantee if the pub wasn’t directly associated with the working class, the government would have done a lot more to support the industry.