Why not just open a new pub?

Our post last week prompted some interesting comments and responses, including a couple which suggested that the market ought to sort it out. Kien Tan is a retail consultant and analyst and one of the most interesting people we follow on BlueSky. He doesn’t only write about pubs but when he does, it’s in the wider context of retail and hospitality. His response to our blog post was this: Pubs already ARE protected. Giving MORE protection than other hospitality IS Reform-coded: a cabinet minister confirmed this to me. You know I love GOOD pubs. But factually we drink out less, so closing BAD pubs will help good ones do better, improve industry standards, and, yes, create more homes.— Kien Tan (@kientan74.bsky.social) 18 August 2026 at 11:23 This is an established thread in the debate over pub preservation and makes one big assumption: that the pubs which are closing are ‘bad’. Often, they’re not, unless you define quality very specifically and/or narrowly. In a comment on the blog post…