Farewell to The Castle Oak

The Castle Oak (formerly The Malthouse) in Dinas Powys – our local pub - has served its last pint. It has closed for good. Tesco have bought the site for one of their Metro stores, although we are well served by local shops thank you very much.

A peak of pub closures occurred in 2009, with around 52 a week shutting down in the UK. They are still closing at an alarming rate. Recent figures show that in the past year a total of 2,377 pubs have closed.

The British pub is an important meeting place within the community. A community that has lost all its pubs is a much poorer place for it.

High beer tax, which has raised the cost of an average pint of beer to £3 in a UK pub, is one of the factors responsible. Something needs to be done to reverse the trend of closing pubs. Reducing or scraping beer tax would be a start.

Further reading:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/5878378/Beer-tax-blamed-as-pub-closures-in-Britain-jump-to-52-a-week.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jan/09/pub-trade-threats-comment