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I don't really feel the times you refer to in the first paragraph were very good for the people living this. You forgot to mention that this was only really a thing for the lowest classes of blue collar workers. Think people working in a factory or coal mine. You'd never see the boss/owner in the pub, it was only for the workers.

They had a job for life, as with their limited education - finishing school at 16, if they were lucky - there were no other prospects. They couldn't afford a car or bus to commute to another town, they'd have a bike to get around their local area. The pub was a place for them to socialise, after a physically exhausting day of work, blow off some steam and escape from their problems.

Even now I guess this still exists in some areas, but the UK has transformed a lot over the past 50 years, going from many industrial jobs to many service oriented jobs, and people are wealthier. Finishing school is basically a given, owning a car is an affordable option to basically everyone - it's not a luxury like it was then.

I had a couple of uncles (who would be in their 80s if still around) who lived like this, their job was working in a local quarry. They both died at a young age (late 50s) from various ailments, but even when alive they were borderline alcoholics and both divorced. Their father lived the same, and I guess his father too. At the weekend maybe they'd go fishing or gardening, then back to the pub in the evening. I'm glad my parents managed to escape that.

I was raised in a remote part of the UK where the main industries now are farming and tourism. Every village had a pub, and quite a few have closed down. Those that still survive have transformed to focus on food and providing a more upmarket experience - not the pubs you see on old movies full of alcoholics where the smell of alcohol is masked by the smell of tobacco.

The other part missing from that is that 50 years ago there were almost certainly no women in there. If a wife brought food, she would then leave. It's a world of difference now, where pubs are family places. That's something that's only really happened in the last 20 years or so.

I still remember having to ask if the pub had a "family room" if we wanted to have a ploughman's after a hike

Not according to this WW2 newsreel educating American GIs on pub etiquette:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GCcoaSq3x4

I think I'd pin the primary cause as the cost of living increasing rapidly and salaries not keeping up with inflation. Couple that with it becoming increasingly obvious that alcohol consumption has negative health effects and it's not surprising that people look for other forms of entertainment.

There's also just more to do in the modern world. There's things like raves as you pointed out, video games, the online world. There's also a million new hobbies which are now much more accessible thanks to the internet and online stores, and much more media content. Compare today's access to entertainment to the pre-television era...

And finally, to top it all off, we have technologies like instant messaging. Instant messaging makes it possible to group text your pals after work and decide to meet anywhere you like. Before that, coordinating with a large group of people was a lot more complex and took some planning ahead, so maybe it was just easier to default to always meeting to the pub after work.

Well, as GDP keeps rising, so inevitably is consumption. Whether the money comes from salaries or otherwise, doesn't matter. People drink less, and this is good.

GDP rising doesn’t necessarily mean normal folk are consuming more. GDP can rise if people are simply spending more for the same thing and buying less of it. It can rise if fewer people are buying anything but some people are spending far more for certain luxuries.

I don't agree with the cost of living remark.

The main reason is that contrary to pubs, restaurants are doing extremely well. At least where I live. Quite a few pubs are converted into restaurants and they're full all of the time. Even in my small town. For sure there's a COVID catch up effect, but this is a long running trend. It suggests that just price is not a very strong driver for changing behavior.

Yes, a full time pub life is increasingly rare, but as it comes to health, I don't think it's a serious consideration for young people. Or the particular group of young people looking for "fun". They still drink, just differently. Or do lots of drugs. Health seems the least of their worries.

I do agree with your last point: many more distractions and types of entertainment. Pubs might have filled a void that no longer exists.

Except for one: spontaneous socializing. You can just walk into any pub and with a bit of luck, have an interesting/healing conversation, meet new people, perhaps even a friend, or find romance. Nobody in the pub would find any of it awkward as that is kind of the point of a pub.

Reminds me of a WWII training film for American soldiers in Britain, there's a scene about the pub culture, very interesting.

How to Behave in Britain: https://youtu.be/ltVtnCzg9xw?t=228

It saddens you that people now consume less alcohol?

My take on Netherlands and Uk culture is that the they (still) drink too much alcohol.

They rather drink beer all night than have a proper dinner at a restaurant, which still blows my mind.

The amount of alcohol some cultures consume is excessive, and I’m glad they’re reducing it.

I think it is as much as where you consume it. Supermarket prices for alcohol have increased but no where nearly as much as in pubs and bars. So the drinking is happening somewhere else and not in pubs.

The increase in prices can probably mostly be laid on product cost and business rates. This is also being reflected in other retail sectors. There are many store closures in both the high street and in out of town retail parks.

I agree that sometimes the drinking is a bit excessive, But I would be sad if pubs disappear and going our becomes more static.

The issue with a "proper" dinner in a restaurant is that (next to it often being to much food which lead to other issues) it feels more like a chore/lethargic/static. specially if done multiply times a week.

While going to a pub you can play a game of cards/pool/darts, walk around and more easily talk to a new bloke you have never seen before.

My point is, (regardless of the drinking) going to a pub is over all more social then sitting in a restaurant.

In some cities it’s common to eat out at restaurants every day (eg Shanghai). So I guess different cultures handle their after work social life differently.

My opinion has been that since you need to eat dinner anyway (although I’ve seen Dutch and English people skip dinner to drink), you kill two birds with one stone.

"In some cities it’s common to eat out at restaurants every day (eg Shanghai)"

I didn't think of this... so thanks! Going to checkout a bit how others indeed handle the work social life.

I would point out that skipping a meal to drink is not the norm at all in the UK. I live in the UK and would think this behaviour very odd (particularly outside of student populations).

You’re missing 80% of what the pub is for the 20% you have a personal issue with.

I said it saddens me that a physical social place is going extinct and you translate that to me thinking it's bad that people consume less alcohol?

What is this, Twitter? Stop putting words in my mouth.

That's for the better, for me a concept of a place that serves drinks but not food sounds ridiculous and dangerous. And young generation drinks whole lot less.

So pubs weren't insanely expensive back then?

Seemingly not, from a hasty look for data. [1] shows the price of a pint of lager across 1973 - 2017 increasing from 17p to 358p while the Bank of England calculator [2] shows an increase in line with inflation would have been 138p.

Of course pure inflation doesn't directly match changes in consumer spending ability, but crudely it suggests pub beer has become relatively more than twice as expensive, possibly because of tax increases (as with tobacco the govt can increase revenue and call it a health-improvement measure)

[1] https://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2018/01/average-uk-draug... [2] https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/in...

In the Hitchiker's guide to the galaxy, circa 1978, six pints of beer would have costed around 2 pounds, and for some reasons this dialog always stuck with me:

https://boakandbailey.com/2014/04/six-pints-for-less-than-a-...

Now I'm depressed in two ways: firstly I didn't instantly recognise the reference (getting old...) and secondly, last time I was in London the bartender would have replied "From a fiver? That doesn't cover the first pint!" (getting old...)

When we did a family vacation in the UK in ... ~1997-1998 or so, a pint was a 2 pounds, everywhere we went. (Wales, Scotland, England; mostly rural). Could have been an "obviously not from here price" or something; I didn't see locals getting charged any less or at least I don't remember it.

Correct.

You're missing Work/Life Balance rather than the pub.