By Hayley Robinson

The days of the traditional British pub are numbered, according to one of Sittingbourne’s longest-serving landlords.

Mick Page, who runs The Ship in East Street, spoke out after Derek Lee, landlord of the nearby Wheatsheaf pub was declared bankrupt at Medway County Court last Friday.

The 67-year-old, who took over The Ship in 1975, blames a change in people’s social lives for the demise of the pub trade and predicted at least five pubs will close their doors for good in the Sittingbourne area in the next three to four months.

He admitted his could be one of them.

Echoing fears he raised in the Sittingbourne Messenger last year, he said: "The licensing situation in Sittingbourne has gone to pieces, people are just not using the pubs.

"Some of it is down to cheap booze coming from the supermarkets, then the smoking ban came into effect – although people adapted to it, but the biggest change is people’s social lives.

"They are spending more and more time at home.

"Your old 19in TV screen is now 42in and you can hire films.

"People call their friends and say ‘come round bring a crate of beer and a pizza’ and they sit in, there’s no need to go to the pub, it’s completely changed.

"I can assure you in the next three to four months five pubs will shut and The Ship might be one of them.

"I’m saddened by it but I understand the circumstances – it’s not a case of someone doing something against you deliberately, it’s just that life has changed."

Pub life is in Mr Page’s blood.

He was born at the Rose and Crown in West Malling in 1943 and married a landlord’s daughter.

In 1973 he moved to the Swale area and took over the Golden Fleece before taking on The Ship.

At one time he also ran The Halfway House in Bobbing.

Mr Page is so synonymous with The Ship that people refer to it by his surname.

"Sadly the days of the great traditional pub have finished, but at the same time you’ve got to move on," he said.