Depressing news out of the UK yesterday: village pubs are closing at a rate of four per day.

Telegraph: Low sales force four village pubs to close a day

Traditional local pubs have been squeezed by a decline in beer sales – almost half of what they were in 1979 – and a significant increase in bills for heating, energy and wholesale beer.

Last year, 1,409 pubs closed, almost seven times more than in the previous year, and beer sales dipped below 30 million pints a day – down 49 per cent on the peak of 1979 and the lowest since the 1930s.

The decline in sales has been blamed on a combination of high taxation, the smoking ban and unfair competition from supermarkets.

Alas, I’m on the wrong side of the Atlantic to try to help out. I’m a bit envious of Britain’s pub culture; it’s certainly not like that here. (The one bar here in town is a “Pub” in name only; scary place.) It would be a shame for this trend to keep going. That’s a lot of culture and history to lose.