Pubs, wet-pubs, gastro-pubs, and dining-pubs.

The last time I was a regular at any UK pub was whilst I was briefly staying with my people in Shropshire. It was a very stressful time, and a pint in the evening was my only way of relaxing. I can remember the day when Bitter became 50p a Pint. 'The Sun' didn't sell food.

I last ate in a UK pub about 50 years ago. It was in a wonderful old pub called 'The Shepherd and Dog' nestled in The Downs at Fulking, Sussex. In those days pubs serving lunches often had a charming sign outside which said quite bluntly 'PUB GRUB'.

Invariably in those distant days the menus were limited to sausage-n-mash, or ploughman's, or cottage pie. Not food that could ever have been classified as 'gastro', but pleasantly comforting in its way.

These days you are as likely to find a French bistro menu, as a Thai menu. The choice of ethnicity in today's pubs is endless.

The one thing you're probably least likely to find is an old fashioned pub where people gather around the bar with a pint and bag of scratchings. Pubs are now more likely to be restaurants than boozers.

For me, 'a pub' should be synonymous with 'a local', where you go in the evening for a pint, a chat, and conviviality. I don't want my local to become simply a convenient restaurant for passing motorists.

Sadly the old fashioned local pub is fast disappearing, as landlords desperately need the sale of food to survive. Sell food or fold. Things change, and I suppose we have to accept it.

In a post-Covid world, where 10,000 pubs are predicted never to re-open, the traditional non-food-serving pubs (now known as 'wet pubs') will probably be the first to go.

What a shame.