Last updated 11:38, Monday, 12 May 2008

With determination and dogged stealth, the nature of British life has been under attack for years. Transformation is now almost complete.

That most characteristic of community focuses, the great British pub, is becoming an increasingly rare breed. At least 80 are on the market in Cumbria, with a combined value of £20million.

But what’s the value of a dinosaur? Driven out by corporate greed, petty legislation and a nonsensical drive to turn grown-up meeting places into creches with cafes, licensees and managers are quitting the trade in their droves. They’ve learned how close to impossible it has become to earn a living wage.

Social engineering lies behind many of the woes now pulling the rug from under much-loved locals. They who shouted loudest for a smoking ban were heeded. It was always on the cards that would hit old fashioned pubs hard.

But since they were next on the target list, those same lobbyists would be the last to complain.

Public houses have had to turn into child-friendly eating houses or young people’s party places, struggling to meet punitive profit demands from their big business owners.

For the working man or woman seeking an adult, quiet drink at the end of the day, writing on the wall has been read, digested and understood. Their day has all but gone.