Use it, close it, lose it

Walking along Rusthall High Street I came upon a vehicle festooned with posters proclaiming: Use it, Close it, Lose it.  The posters referred to Rusthall Club, previously known as Rusthall Workingmens' Club.

I declare an interest. Family members have used the club and been on the staff.

Currently there are four pubs in the village and the club. Two more pubs have closed and are now private houses.  Changes in drinking habits, the cost of drinks on licensed premises, cheap alcohol sold by supermarkets and the smoking ban have all contributed to a steep downward trend in consumption of alcohol on licensed premises.

'Traditional' pubs are a dying breed, the only hope for many is to morph into 'gastro-pubs' or to have 'live' music which often involves blasting the neighbourhood with unwanted noise and thereby fomenting hostility from potential customers living in the vicinity.

It is not many years ago since pubs had darts, cribbage and dominoes teams that played in local leagues. Players would turn up regularly to practice and thus a core clientele was built up. Pubs became one of the key elements in community life, along with the church, the post office, the school and the shops. Post offices have been closed in many communities, the pub has gone, the shop destroyed by the supermarket.  Schools have closed and churches merged with adjoining parishes. The result is that many people live in their own family cocoon, hardly ever speaking to neighbours and travel in isolation in their cars to buy the drink to be consumed at home.  Venues for social intercourse are being destroyed.

In some places it is not too bad - for the time being at least.  One of the key elements in a localism agenda, or a community plan, must be the development of ways to keep important meeting points alive, to find ways to ensure their sustainability. 

Some posit the proposition that the answer is to develop community centres.  However evidence suggests that this approach is not always the best solution. In Tunbridge Wells I can think of two community centres, both of which are used by only a very small number of the people in the communities they serve.