On Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:48:08 +0100, Grimly Curmudgeon [QUOTE] Sure, but the decline seems to have been accelerating - a lot of them were teetering on the brink, and the slightest downturn in trade (smiking bane) was enough to close the doors. I recall at the start of the 90s Whitbread's property dept had a list of village pubs going for affordable dosh - some of them were very nice, too. I wouldn't be at all suprised if many of the pubs now closing were bought by hopeful would-be publicans then and have only just been clearing a profit since.[/QUOTE] Whitbread had three pubs in my parents village and sold two off during the late 80s/90s. Neither of them survived as pubs and ended up being bought for conversion to housing during the boom.