Drinking-houses in the UK have been called many things - pubs, inns, taverns, gastropubs, bars, boozers - but never an endangered species. The country where pubs originated has so many of the establishments that no one really knows how many there are.

"In the last 10 to 15 years, there has always been said to be 60,000 of them, even though they have been closing at a steady rate," says Julian Hough, a seasoned pub-watcher for the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), a drinking lobby group.