Pubs have long been the glue to uniting Kent’s local communities; a place to meet friends and relatives and revive the lost art of the conversation.

If ever we needed proof of how valuable they are, then simply recall the huge crowds of folk who sat outside in the chilly air when the lockdowns were slowly being released and we were permitted to sit in pub gardens again.

We missed it.

But the financial pressures the hospitality industry has faced ever since must make it feel like a persecuted sector – and they’re dropping like flies.

From a lack of staff to soaring overheads, delivery driver shortages disrupting supply chains to perhaps the biggest kick in the guts; a cost-of-living crisis which has left consumers with an ever-dwindling level of that all-important disposable income.

Much of which, of course, forces them to up their prices in a bid to bridge the gap. And, when pitted against supermarket booze prices, it makes for an even more challenging sell.

Let’s face it, going to the pub for a drink or a meal is a cost many of us know is an easy cut to our budgets in order to afford the increased mortgage/shopping bill/energy costs.

So should it, on reflection, be any surprise so many continue to close?

Wetherspoon may be welcomed by many for its cut-price food and drink offering, but as it continues to expand so too does it suck up custom from forced-to-price-hike traditional outlets.

The chain is to the pub industry what supermarkets are to high streets – drawing just enough people away to see wafer-thin profit margins disappear.

It’s not the fault of Wetherspoon. If we go there and turn our back on other pubs, that’s just capitalism’s commercial competition in full effect. We go there because it’s cheaper. And why wouldn’t we? It’s what has influenced consumer spending for centuries.

But our traditional pubs are not, after all, non-profit organisations. They need to make money; they have staff to pay, not to mention fulfilling the demands of the breweries to which they are attached and to whom they are beholden.

Goodwill and legacy affection does not, sadly, pay the bills.

Pubs will, inevitably, continue to crumble until the economic situation has improved to such an extent that the all-important consumer confidence has returned. And hope we haven’t got out of the habit so much we decide not to return.

If we want to ensure our local does not call time for good, we need to make sure as soon as we have a few spare quid in our pockets we go out and support them.

We will, if not, continue to miss them when they’re gone.