One of the most pertinent cultural strands that combine us Britons is the communal surroundings of a public house. For centuries the pub has been a remedy to a hard day’s graft or a stressful day in the office.

As with so many other quintessentially British institutions the pub is being systematically dismantled in the same way as the post office, the armed forces and the Anglican church. The BNP’s Shard End candidate in last May’s elections, Richard Lumby, highlighted the issue at the June meeting of East Birmingham BNP. Ahead of the ban Richard described how it had affected other parts of the British Isles, in particular southern Ireland where he has relatives. Whilst many pubs had learnt to cope with the ban or work round it, many others had been forced to close. This effect has undoubtedly hit Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in a similar way, now New Labour is to strike menacingly across the largest constituent in these islands – as from Sunday 1st July 2007 there will be a carpet ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces and work places across England.

Where will this assault on individual freedoms end? Will drinking be next?

“24-hour drinking to keep us all off the streets”.

That was the angle that rock band the Kaiser Chiefs took on their latest album and perhaps they are right, except only a handful of drinking establishments applied for such a licence. Is this part of a sustained effort to drive us off the streets and dump us at home to live like hermits in front of that key propaganda tool of the state – the TV, aka the ‘idiot box’ – that is creating a generation of apathetic morons as we speak. The gradual dismantling of the post office fits in nicely with this idea. The post office has long been a source of social interaction, particularly for the older generation, likewise the public house.

In addition to Labour’s assault on our British pubs, the changing demographics of our towns and cities is seeing an escalation in the decline of the ‘boozer’. Where trade is already in freefall many pubs are being sold off and converted into Chinese restaurants – for example the Navigation in Erdington, the King George V in Northfield and the Stockland Green. The pub is also disappearing fast from the inner cities where an influx of new arrivals from a non-drinking culture has displaced the indigenous population and led to a fall in trade. Other pubs have been forced out by acts of aggression.

This all serves to assist the establishment plot and as Richard stated, the smoking ban is only an opening act for the oppressive state under which we will all increasingly be forced to live. ID cards, tracking devices, biometric databases, universal CCTV – welcome to New Britain.



The burnt out ruin of the Wagon and Horses pub, Coventry Road, Sheldon. A pub had stood on this site for a century before this one closed due to lack of custom. Typically it was then burnt down by arsonists. Just one of hundreds of Birmingham pubs closed, burnt down and demolished over the last few years. The survival of the few remaining traditional community pubs is seriously doubtful thanks to Labour's smoking ban.