The Pub - A Traditional Social Hub

The Pub is a traditional part of English life , and even though in recent years, the steady increase in the price of a "pint " (just over half a litre of draught beer) has led to a drop in the number of visits people make to their "local" and the closure of a large number of pubs across the country , surveys show that two thirds of adults in Britain visit a pub from time to time, and half of the adult population go to the pub on a regular basis. This is not surprising. In all societies, places where people can have a drink together on "neutral" territory are part of social lifre. They are places where people go to talk to each other, to find companionship, to gossip and catch up on news from near and far . The French have their cafés, Americans their fast foods, the English - and the British Isles in general - their pubs. There are many very old pubs in England. The oldest of all, it is said, is a Nottingham pub called the "Old Trippe to Jerusalem " , whose name dates dates back to the Middle Ages when it was an inn frequented by Crusaders. Old pubs are mostly in the countryside, or in historic city centers, and when a pub is not old, the owner (an independent publican or a brewery) will often make an effort to make it look older than it really is; beamed ceilings, old oak furniture, soft lighting.