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Mark is spot on here. What we know from the past 20 odd years is there are some who see pubs only as financial assets whose function or purpose is irrelevant - accommodation, shop, demolition, whatever - the highest return on investment is the only metric. https://twitter.com/jmarkdodds/status/1250091730491375621
But as we are all finding out in either their shuttered absence or their continued presence as community anchors or food & drink lifelines, there’s more to pubs than mere watering holes. They’re actually an embodiment of who we are as a nation.
So the important issue Mark raises is clear. What do we do in the new era that’s upon us? Leave the vulture speculators to feast on the fallen pubs? Or think through how we all might collectively buy & invest in 100s of pubs, and make them part of the National Care Service?
Because that’s what many pubs, community owned like @thebevy or not like the local boozer in my street The Prestonville Arms, are right now. The PV is keeping its regulars fed, watered & upbeat, keeping themselves afloat & are raising £100s for the NHS as they do it
So let’s listen to Mark’s clarion call, seize what may be the last opportunity to do this, be ready for the clash of ideologies ahead, and take back the pub from the PropCo vampires & build a national People’s Pub Coop
