An during 2020, accelerating an already existing trend prior to COVID-19. While the likes of celebrity pub owner Tom Kerridge and beer writer Pete Brown lead efforts to raise awareness about the plight of Britain’s pubs, many people find themselves longing for the unique atmosphere of their favourite “local”.
What people miss most about pubs right now has little to do with buying and drinking alcohol – after all, those habits have continued largely unhindered in the form of home drinking. Instead, it’s the opportunity to be around and interact with other people.
Pubs are recognised as to their communities, providing economic and alike. They’re also an excellent example of what the American scholar Ray Oldenburg calls the “third place”, a space other than the home or workplace where people meet to interact and maintain relationships.
These spaces were hugely valuable but increasingly under threat even before COVID-19, with the existance of pubs, youth clubs and libraries already impacted by recent years of austerity policies and technological changes. But well-run pubs offer something that, in spite of some admirable efforts like virtual pubs, is difficult to recreate at home: a truly offline, in-person social experience.
Social interaction
Even before the pandemic, loneliness was .
Through a collaboration with the , I’ve been researching the role that pubs play in tackling social isolation and loneliness. The highlights the important social role that pubs play in bringing people together and fostering meaningful and valuable social interaction. Pubs are about much more than getting drunk...
Dr Thomas Thurnell-Read, a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at 天堂视频, discusses his latest research and why British people are missing the pubs in .
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