Preserving pubs is essential to help charity fundraising

PAUL Jeeves’ article about urging Ministers to stand up for vital rural pubs and the Editorial comment (Yorkshire Post, April 26) have captured my attention.

I believe that rural public houses are, indeed, valuable assets to small communities and provide places where local people and visitors can socialise.

Sadly, there are, at present, many rural public houses up for sale and to let in the area of North Yorkshire where I live.

However, I would extend this plea to include urban public houses. Public houses are, generally, closing and declining at a comparatively rapid rate and as each social venue closes, some people’s lives are changed irreparably because their comfort zone and means of communicating with fellow souls has disappeared.

This can lead to the isolation of some of the regular customers, particularly those who live alone. Today, in many rural communities there is the omnipresent threat of the local public house closing and each closure signifies the gradual erosion of a traditional part of local, regional and national way of life.

In recent years we have often been informed that people no longer wish to go out to socialise and that they prefer to stay at home and drink cheaper forms of alcohol which can be purchased in, for example, supermarkets.

Perhaps some people do prefer to spend their leisure time alone, but I contradict this school of thought because “no man is an island” and many people are naturally gregarious and seek and relish the conversation and company of other human beings.

Alcohol prices in public houses have increased at what appears to be an accelerating rate and many people now simply cannot afford to spend money in public houses regularly due to factors such as the recession and threat of or actual loss of their employment.

There are others who believe that the draconian blanket smoking ban has played its role during the past five years in England and has affected public houses negatively. The number of pub closures has most certainly accelerated since the introduction of this law.

Finally, I would like to draw people’s attention to the issue of charitable work and benefits to local communities. Many people may not be aware of how much money has been and continues to be raised by frequenters of public houses.

A member of my local pub’s darts team recently organised a darts and dominoes evening to raise money for a local charity because her grandfather who had suffered from dementia had died earlier in the year.

Almost £400 was raised during that entertaining social evening and I actually enjoyed being humbled and humiliated in both games sections because I knew that my money would benefit a very worthy cause.

As well as benefiting the local economy (an important aspect mentioned in the original article and by the editorial), supporters of the pub trade have, over the years, been responsible for raising countless thousands of pounds to benefit local as well as national charities.

When a public house closes, potential valuable charitable contributions cease.