Mixed Messages

BBC2 runs an early evening programme called ‘Escape to the Country’. The formula is simple; a couple of city dwellers or returning ex-pats who wish to live in the country, sketch out their main requirements for house and location and are then shown three available properties. Just how contrived it is and how much the guinea pig couples are coerced into apparently falling in love with one or more of the properties, is difficult to tell. Nevertheless, it is entertaining and offers an insight into people’s priorities.
Interestingly, one recurring requirement is to be within a reasonable distance of a pub. The couples do not seem to be compulsive alcoholics and most justify their requirement as a means of integrating with the community.
Country pubs are said to be closing at the rate of three a week. It is not surprising. Few potential customers now rely on a horse who knows its way home, and many are worried at the risk of driving home after one too many rounds. Others want the simultaneous effects of alcohol and nicotine, but prefer them in a warm home rather than a draughty ‘smokers shelter’. Then, of course, there is the economics with supermarkets selling imported lager and wine, at prices which make water look expensive.
There is a consensus that we have a national drink problem. The police have to sort out rowdy binge drinking on the streets and alcohol fuelled violence in the home, whilst the NHS warns that treating alcohol related illness is likely to overwhelm recourses and bankrupt budgets.
In a society where people are becoming more isolated, the pub, whether it is in village, town or city, is a vital contact point for many people - a source of uncomplicated friendship and informal advice. Experienced publicans supervise and control their drinking customers. The pub is, for many, a panacea for loneliness and depression. As such, pubs fulfil a vital social service without all the bureaucratic baggage. If you think I am exaggerating, then why do so many of the participants in programmes like ‘Escape to the Country’ list a nearby pub as one of their priorities? Why do estate agents always mention, when they can, the existence of a rural pub?
The real question that should be asked, is why is the Government accelerating the decline of a vital social service (the pub), for want of applying a differential tax on alcohol sold over the bar, so that it is more attractive to drink in supervised environments than to drink in the streets or home?
A decade ago, it was unremarkable for a village to have an open church, a butcher, a grocer, a doctor, a policeman, a petrol selling garage and at least one pub. The proof of this, is that when I leaf through old estate agents details of rural properties, there is rarely any mention of ‘village amenities’. Now such amenities, where they exist, are listed as major attractions. Property values in villages that retain some of those amenities reflect increasing scarcity. This relationship between amenity and property prices, is clearly understood by those communities who have taken over their village shop or pub and run it as a resident’s partnership when closure threatens.
AND ANOTHER THING….
A few weeks ago I wrote about the boiler scrappage scheme and my doubts about the economics of the new boilers. Thanks to all those who wrote about troubles with new boilers and the longevity of old types. One reader in particular summed it up as follows: “We have a Potterton Diplomat boiler that is our pride and joy, and the delight of our plumber, who looks fondly at her once a year, and says that she is like a Morris Minor – so little to go wrong!”
©March 2010

NOTE:
The writer is an independent chartered surveyor and has no connection with any firm of estate agents or surveyors. For reasons of client confidentiality he writes under a pseudonym. Comments and enquiries are welcome and may be sent c/o Wealden Advertiser Property, Gardens & Interiors.

Print this page