On the plus side, I met the new landlord of The Castle Inn yesterday who says he'll be opening in about a month's time so there is good news! I really hope that The White Horse, Blakes and The Castle can work together as a nice little circuit for our punters - dependant on the clientele of course because the latter has always appealed to the younger generation in the past.
I've always thought CAMRA'S estimation of 39 pubs closing a week to be a rather dubious figure as they don't take re-openings into account, but that figure has come down from 52 in 2009.
I know this subject has been argued more than a few times on the forum but I don't believe any single factor, such as no smoking, rising unemployment or price increases are to blame for pub closures but more a combination. In fact I'd probably opt more towards the last-mentioned because let's face it, a good night out down the pub these days is no cheap event!
Then we have the lazy publicans, those that expect everything to drop in their laps without making any effort whatsoever but then moan like mad when it doesn't work and are forced to close. The civil minded amongst us could say that those pubs didn't meet the customer's needs, the others would just call them crap!
Pubs are not the establishments that they once were and never will be again. Customers expect so much more now and the publican has to be willing to offer every service that they possibly can to cater for their needs because those with 'Tesco mentality' will think nothing of buggering off to the nearest Wetherspoons!
Best of luck to the Castle inn anyway, I really hope it works out for them and if DITZ ever does begin, they'll be laughing their socks off!
