Community spirit and values 'under threat because of pub closures'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/pubs/4902732/Community-spirit-and-values-under-threat-because-of-pub-closures.html

Community spirit and values 'under threat because of pub closures'
More than eight in 10 people believe community spirit and values are under threat in Britain, a survey reveals


Almost two thirds of people believe the local pub is an important element of local communities, the study found.
A large majority of people oppose an above-inflation increase in beer tax in the next Budget, British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) survey found.
It comes in a week when MPs are due to meet ministers to raise their concerns about the increasing rate of pub closures - running at nearly six a day - and the threat of 75,000 job losses in the beer and pub industry.
A large number of MPs are expected to quiz ministers at a meeting in Parliament on Wednesday organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group.
Some 155 MPs have signed a parliamentary motion calling on the Government to axe plans to increase beer tax in the Budget and to take measures to support local pubs.
The poll found that more than three quarters said Government does not do enough to support elements of local communities.
Some 70 say increases in beer tax above inflation in the current circumstances are unjustified.
The "Axe the Beer Tax, Save the Pub" campaign was launched by BBPA and Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in November last year.
Rob Hayward, chief executive of the BBPA, said: "These results confirm what we have long believed.
"The British public is deeply concerned about the decline of local communities, and the rapid closure of pubs is an important part of that."
Mike Benner, chief executive of CAMRA, said: "More than 25,000 people have signed up and 12,000 have lobbied their MP to express their concern about the decline of the British beer and pub industry.
"It is time for the Government to think again in order to save the Great British Pub."
ComRes interviewed 1,004 British adults by telephone between February 20 and 22.