Friends on tap: the role of pubs at the heart of the community

Author(s)

DUNBAR Robin

Publisher(s):

Campaign for Real Ale

Publication year:

2016

This report summarises a series of studies carried out on behalf of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) on the role that community pubs play in people’s health, happiness and social cohesion. To set the scene, the paper first provides a brief overview of how people create their friendships. It then raises the problem of large scale social cohesion and provides some insights into how social cohesion has been engineered in the past. Finally, it presents the findings from a national poll of pub use and two studies of behaviour in pubs undertaken to assess the social value of small community pubs compared to large city centre pubs. The evidence suggests that while 40 per cent of people in the UK now typically socialise with friends in someone’s home, a third of the population prefer to do so in pubs, and regard pubs as a safe place to meet friends. People who said they have a ‘local’ or those who patronise small community pubs appear to have more close friends on whom they can depend for support, are more satisfied with their lives and feel more embedded in their local communities than those who said they do not have a local pub. The paper makes a number of recommendations for publicans, city planners and policy makers to ensure pubs play a role in people’s health, wellbeing and community cohesion. (Edited publisher abstract)