The British pub is as much a part of the fabric of the United Kingdom as fish and chips and the queen, but each year hundreds close their doors for good. The reasons include the high price of beer, more people drinking at home and rising land prices.
Now — in an apparent first — the London borough of Wandsworth has designated 120 pubs for protection, requiring owners who want to transform them into apartments or supermarkets to get local government approval first.
Chris Cox has been watching pubs disappear in Wandsworth since the 1990s, and thinks the new regulation is great. Cox, who's just polished off a lager at the Falcon, one of the protected venues, says pubs provide far more to this nation than just beer and atmosphere.
"A pub creates community," says Cox, who works in ergonomics and has lived in Wandsworth for more than three decades.