It may be last orders at the local

What’s the state of the nation’s pubs? Last July, the British Beer and Pub Association warned that roughly one pub a day would close permanently in England and Wales by the end of the year. This prediction turned out to be correct, contributing to some 15,000 UK pubs that closed their doors since 2000. Continued pressure on the hospitality industry with little in the way of support from the government makes it increasingly difficult for landlords and business owners to keep these spaces open, which have been well-loved and patronised for decades, if not centuries.

These are the places that Jimmy McIntosh is interested in: the face, voice and skinny chain behind social media account @londondeadpubs, a social media page that documents pubs across the capital. Dreamy self-composed ambient music imbues his videos with surreal nostalgia. These videos celebrate the mundane and familiar rather than the newly launched and heavily PRed. Documenting the context and communities they exist in, the account feels more like an archive than the typical “Oh my God you guys, you have to try this” review page.

McIntosh started his account with static images of things that used to be pubs (flats, churches, Sainsbury’s Locals), with a little information on the ex-pub’s history. “I initially wanted to commemorate all the life and vitality that went on in those pubs before they shut,” he says. “It’s weird and a bit sad to think of how many birthdays, weddings, wakes, break-ups, piss-ups went on in somewhere that is now demolished.” This got depressing, so in 2024 he decided to keep the LDP name, and switch to spotlighting the pubs still open and operating, to “hopefully stop them from joining the ranks of the deceased”.

McIntosh isn’t a fan of the phrase “old man pubs”, but those are the kind we’re talking about here. They’re certainly not of the new wave of mega-fancy pubs, where the food cooking is less chicken and chips and more beef tartare and handmade crisps. These new pubs have private dining rooms, limewashed walls and more than one loo.

The success of the sleb-favourite Public House Group is one example of these slick new venues. I passed the Hart in Marylebone on a Monday (a Monday!) to find the smoking area full and the bar queue impenetrable. However, perhaps as a reaction to the popularity of these modern new-school boozers, so too has interest grown in the types of pubs McIntosh reviews, venues he refers to as “proper pubs”.

“The trend seems to be towards cosy maximalism,” McIntosh says. “Some pubs, like the Coach & Horses in Stoke Newington, are even putting their carpet back in again. People are after an authentic pub experience – the pints of lager, the scampi fries, the chaotic Bacchanalian atmosphere, rather than ones where you can get a £22 burger and a mocktail.”

It’s cheering to hear that the reaction from the landlords to McIntosh’s reviews has been largely positive: “If I can help in even a small way in keeping these businesses going at a time when it’s virtually impossible to run a pub, then I’ll be happy. Go to your local – they need it.”

See you down the pub.

Illustration by Ahoy There