Help support your local

It’s not just one specific thing, it’s more of an accumulation of things. As was said last week, rents, utilities the smoking ban and of course the supermarkets have all had an effect. Only this week it became illegal to sell cigarettes from a vending machine in a pub, once again the freedom of choice has been taken away from our business, not to mention the jobs that have been lost from it.

I’m afraid the politicians don’t live in the real world. When they all jumped on the bandwagon to ban smoking in pubs, they said they wanted to see them more family-orientated. So where are all the families? What planet do they live on?

Also people don’t have as much money in their pockets. Money’s tight. Whereas you might get lads coming for a few pints twice a week, now it may be just the weekend when they call. Things have changed with the 24-hour opening times and people’s drinking habits have changed too.

As for the supermarkets they will always sell beer as a loss leader just to get people through the doors.

Just the other week four cans of beer were cheaper than a large bottle of water! I rest my case. Pubs can’t complete with that, you can’t blame people for buying cheaper elsewhere.

My heart goes out to the other publicans when they are to close or move on, as I know they have worked dammed hard to avoid the closure and are probably in debt.

My pub is the Woodman inn at Batley Carr.

There are still nice pubs in the area so please try and visit them and when you do I hope you have a good night.

Jane DRURY

Landlady Woodman Inn

BATLEY CARR

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