Public houses

The Epsom Civic Society appears to be celebrating the collapse of the plan to turn the Amato public house into a house.

A public house which I have used occasionally and which once served me some excellent ham rolls after at day out at the Derby. Proper ham rolls, with just good quality rolls and good quality ham. No potato crisps, thimbles of salad or anything else on the side. 

Not been there for a while now, and while I should be sorry to see it go, we have to recognise that public houses are drifting down. People are just not using them like they used to. We no longer need the number of public houses which we both needed and used in, say, the 1950's and 1960's. Even public houses dressed up as restaurants.

So in my view, councils should not attempt to fight the decline, any more than they should fight the decline in shops or the likely decline in restaurants by trying to make them stay open on the periphery. They should not try to fight the economic facts on the ground. Councils should concentrate on trying to preserve their town centres - and release surplus commercial property on the periphery for the housing for young and old that everybody seems to agree that we do so badly need.

Reference 1: https://epsomcivicsociety.org.uk/.