New research commissioned by CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, today highlights how important British pubs are in people’s lives and calls on the public to start using them more often before more close.
‘Where would we be without the local?’
CAMRA’s third national pub campaign of the year, ‘Pubs in Our Lives’, will run throughout October. The objective of the campaign is to highlight how often people use pubs for special events throughout their lives and ask the question ‘Where would we be without the local?’
Have you ever done any of the following at the pub?
The main findings of the new research were:
· 75% have celebrated a friend / family birthday
· 48% have celebrated a life at a wake
· 48% have had a date
· 42% have attended a wedding anniversary
· 36% have ‘wet the baby’s head’
· 20% have met their current partner
CAMRA has distributed approximately 6,500 free ‘Pubs in Our Lives’ promotional packs that include beer mats and posters to help pubs promote these important messages to their visitors.
Communities rely on the pub
Mike Benner, CAMRA’s Chief Executive said, “This new research shows how many communities rely on the pub to celebrate important landmarks in our lives from wetting the baby’s head to toasting someone’s life. With more local facilities like community halls closing around Britain, the British pub is for many the only facility the community can use. The new research does throw open the question – Where would we be celebrating special occasions or meeting our future loved ones without the local pub?”
Different pub models to encourage use?
CAMRA’s Key Campaign to ‘raise the profile of pub-going and increase the number of people using pubs regularly’ has already encompassed Community Pubs Month in April and Pubs & Charity Month in July. CAMRA is also carrying out a multitude of research for this Key Campaign with both pub-goers and non pub-goers to see if there is a demand for different pub models in Britain which might encourage more people to use British pubs.
The British pub needs the British public’s support
Mr Benner concluded with a call for support from the British public. He said “Almost 4 in 10 pub-goers highlighted in the new research that they are visiting the pub less often that they did just 12 months ago. This is worrying and as a staggering 26 pubs are still closing every week it is important we use our pubs more regularly and not only for these special occasions. The British pub needs the British public’s support throughout the year otherwise community life will diminish in many parts of the country.”