It’s true, with the weather as good as it has been, I like a cool drink in a pub garden as much as the next person.

In fact – and don’t take this the wrong way – I like pubs. Not particularly to drink more than one glass of red, you understand, although that, to be fair, has been known.

For centuries, pubs have been at the heart of a community. A few years ago in Uley, its public house was closed and it made a huge difference to the area.

But, while they certainly have their place in society, I can’t help but wonder if pubs – which remember, are commercial enterprises that sell alcohol to make money - should effectively take on the position of, what should be, a council run community centre?

And so to the Full Moon pub in Wotton-under-Edge and the garage site that neighbours it. Following a need for more social housing in the area, Stroud District Council has notified the garage tenants that they are being given notice on their lease contracts.

The plan, it seems, is to use the land where the garages sit in order to build essential social housing. So far, so tricky. The issue, however, has worsened as developers are now considering knocking down not just the garages, but also the Full Moon pub to make way for new, much needed homes.

The local residents are up in arms. Despite the troubled history of the pub, locals are defending the Full Moon saying that it is used by the skittles team, for dominoes and by the cribs team, as well as by elderly people.

And while I think this is great, I do think - why? Why does it take a pub to do the job of the community centre? What mixed message does it send out to younger groups in society?

See, we chastise teenagers for gathering at a shop corner with cider, but, at the same time, we applaud locals for drinking pints in pubs whilst playing skittles. Yet, because that pub is the ‘heart of the community’ we green-light it.

Yes, we love a good pub. Yes, pubs have a place. But saying we want to meet as a community in pubs, means we have to admit that other groups will meet elsewhere. And if we complain, we must admit something else, too: our double standards.

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