Do you feel sad when you see a pub that’s now a mini supermarket?

44 comments

1. Yeah. Very shit.

2. My old haunt is now a Dominos 😔

3. “My bank is now a trendy wine bar.” Remember that advert? Now the wine bar is a Saino’s. What will it be next?

4. Why is it a step backwards? Not the supermarket bit, but the pub closure bit.

   We’re evolving to a society that’s not that fussed on drinking any more. I don’t think this is a bad thing.

5. Not really. The pub will still have its place, but it’s being out competed by lots of other entertainment options. Theres more pubs in the UK than Costas in the world, so losing a few isnt a problem.

6. I refuse to patronise anything that used to be a pub.

7. In general I think it’s a shame but there is former pub I can think of which was a hive of scum and villainy and is far better as a Tesco.

8. It’s great that these often beautiful buildings are being saved from demolition and given a new purpose.

9. This is going to be unpopular but if enough people used them they wouldn’t be closing down

10. I don’t enjoy pubs, so not really. It’s a shame you have less places to enjoy, but people just don’t visit pubs as much as they used to.

11. A club that I used to go to was turned into a Tesco Express, I feel sad when I think about it. Music Box and Jilly’s Rockworld.

12. Couldn’t care less.

13. Not really. I’m not a big pub user or drinker so it doesn’t really bother me. Most pubs where I grew up weren’t a hub of the community which is the usual argument about pubs disappearing.

    Pubs are loud, expensive, and on a Friday / Saturday night, are more trouble than they’re worth.

14. We had a local pub that turned into a Chinese restaurant about 6 years ago (one of the best I’ve had and the owners were great) and everyone loved the restaurant as much as they loved the pub

    It closed a couple of years ago after the owner died and it is now a set of flats, which are unoccupied because rent is far too high

15. Most pubs are pretty naff and are not as important for socialising the current younger generations.

16. Couldn’t give a shiny shite

17. I feel sad but then I got to a pub and pay £7.50 for a pint and remember why they’re closing . Not necessarily the pubs fault I know.

18. My village pub is now an undertakers. It was literally that dead in there.

19. Not really. I think “Ooh, that’s handy”

    Beats walking past a pub and thinking “Damn, all this glass and vomit everywhere”

    Or worse still, living near a pub and hearing the pissed up wankers making their way home at 2am, destroying everything in their path. God, I wish they would make my local a Tesco Express.

20. British Reddit hates the pub? You bunch of fuckin losers.

21. I’m sad the old pub near me closed down but only because it became a jerk chicken place that was amazing. It didn’t make it and was finally a Tesco express a year later.

22. No, not really..

    But some pubs that looks really nice and put an effort in decor is nice to look at

23. If the pub was attached to a brewery their increases in prices and squeeze on profit margins make it difficult for landlords and landladies to make it pay for them. A few pubs near me went out of business because the breweries decide it’s not worth their investment squeeze the tenants out and sell the property and land to developers etc

24. Given our local pub was notoriously rough and now I can grab a pint of milk in a minute, nah. Don’t miss sirens and shouting matches at all.

25. Depends which pub

26. Mate, my art college is now a Lidl

27. Eventually all that will be left is Tesco express and McDonalds

28. Some people are saying they closed because people didn’t use them. That’s correct however It’s important to mention people cant afford to have a drink or 2 at the pub like they use to. Now people get cans from co op and go home. We spocialise online now, hi btw.

29. I am more concerned that there are more of these mini supermarkets opening, and local shops that have been there for years closing.

30. >Will we live long enough to see them turned back into pubs?

    Mostly not. I’ve photographed nearly 2000 ex-pubs around Suffolk and most of them aren’t coming back (mind you, some closed as long ago as the 15th century).

    But it does occasionally happen. The King’s Arms in Stowmarket closed in 1958, but reopened in 2009. And the Ark in Cattawade reopened in 2017, 25 years after closing down. Next month, the Red Lion in Debenham will reopen, having closed down (I think) 30 or 40 years ago.

31. The two near me that are now supermarkets were shit pubs. Lovely old Victorian pub buildings but before they closed nasty rough cliquey pubs. Fortunately the Victorian elements were protected and are still present on the frontage of the supermarkets.

    Luckily we still have some good pubs open in the area that are doing okay so far.

32. Having grown up in pubs I find it very tragic. There’s a load of derelict ones and I often think…. Could I?

33. The pub that was our ‘local’ when I was growing up is now a funeral parlour. It was a dump but it makes me sad anyway. Probably because of all of the memories it held. Watching Grand nationals etc. with the family when. Younger, having first few cheeky pints when a teenager etc. I feel I get nostalgic a lot recently. Probably a sign of the tough times 😂

34. I’d be happy it’s still being used for something rather than sitting empty. There’s one in my town that’s been empty for years. I suspect it will suspiciously burn down eventually.

35. There is an old man pub in our town that refuses, point blank *refuses* to die. It’s been through multiple owners, shutdowns, and having their license revoked for selling their own beer. I wish I could tell you it was decent but every pint I’ve had from there tastes like washing up liquid. It seems to be have been frequented by the same 4-5 bloke’s in their seventies for the last thirty years.

36. I do feel sad because it’s a history that’s been lost. At least if the building was converted into independent shops, a cafe or flats, it could still maintain the character of its former life. These chain supermarkets just want the location and will often flatten the building or gut it entirely. Devastating.

    I’m a big fan of pubs, but am under no illusions about the limited life of some of them nowadays. I am in one 1-2 times a week at least. When I lived nearer to friends a few years ago, it was more like 3-4. But as I’ve got older I’ve realised I’m probably a minority. I met most my local friends through pub-related activities, yet when I speak to colleagues or friends from elsewhere I learn that some of them rarely visit a pub. They are happy to drink at home or at friends and they sometimes live nearer to places with more choices for eating out.

    New micropubs are more likely to open than a regular full sized pub reopening, largely because they are smaller and therefore pay less rent. How long these last will depend on how entrepreneurial the managers are.

37. I always find the reuse of pubs in different areas quite amusing.

    Back home when ever a pub would close it would lay empty for a while, be a victim of some bad vandalism (usually a fire) then would turn into a HMO.

    Where I live now they are either snapped up by a brewery, become some edgy gastro pub serving meals on anything but plate or like the latest one round the corner, it’s now a ‘traditional pub – farm shop – butchers – pizzeria’ that’s applying to be open earlier and close later at night.

38. In Brighton we’re seeing most of our pubs slowly become gastros. I’m pretty happy with it as it gives the pub another source of income to survive off of and I can get a pretty good meal with a pint. What is a shame is that they’re mostly now part of chains, but honestly it’s not massively overbearing and quite inoffensive.

39. Prefer them as a supermarket than an empty ruin.

40. The old days of everyone going down the pub after work are over. Times have changed. Better they get converted into a mini supermarket rather than just boarded up like you see with some.

41. At least the shops serve a purpose. More often it seems like old pubs have become estate agents.

    Somewhat sad, especially when I hear about well-loved pubs that used to host gigs, or comedy nights, or interesting events of some sort. It’s a shame to have lost things like that in a particular area/community.

    But there aren’t any particular pubs that have shut down that I miss – probably because I was mostly too young to drink when I lived in my home town, so there’s no old ones that I miss there. Since moving to London, there aren’t any pubs I’ve particularly gotten attached to that have shut down, and there’s still no shortage of them around here.

    I’m not too sure what it says that there are less of them now. British drinking culture seems to be what it always was, if going out is less common than before covid, but pubs were already shutting down long before that. Mostly it just seems like the pubs that are still around are more busy than ever.

    I don’t think it’s a good thing to encourage more of a drinking culture with more pubs, I’d just like to have a nice quiet drink. I don’t necessarily want there to be more pubs around, but I wish the ones there were were quieter. So maybe I do want more pubs…

42. Massive upgrade.

43. Just curious, anyone else like me and absolutely hate pubs? I’m 37 and been twice to a pub in my life, and that was to take clients out… I was counting the milliseconds until I could leave

44. Not really. Then again I’m not in on the drinking culture