I read today that a pub round the corner from me has been granted a licence to install beer pumps at tables to save their patrons the strain of having to walk to the bar. Pubs are closing down literally every day across the country and this sort of desperate measure is a bit like the half price curry or pizza – it’s only delaying the inevitable closure of a business model that makes no sustainable sense.

It’s not necessarily a recession thing – 20 years ago places like All Bar One, recognising that the pub of old had lost its way, opened in bright and breezy designed spaces with proper food and wines as well as beers and attracted a much wider constituent audience. Advertising folk say you should always first target your existing customer but I can’t see that working for pubs.

Some people are looking creatively at this problem; in Wales, one pub has been partially converted into a library with much success. In King’s Cross, a derelict old building has been converted into a hub – a space where largely self-employed or aspirant businesses go set-up at desks, have meetings and interact with each other and they pay to join.

I wish the publicans who think it prudent business sense to make it easier for their punters to shove more beer down them could see further than their expanding waistlines and realise that their social spaces could be active agents for social change like The Hub – and make money along the way.