{"id":3167,"date":"2014-02-18T14:18:20","date_gmt":"2014-02-18T21:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/?p=3167"},"modified":"2014-02-18T14:54:27","modified_gmt":"2014-02-18T21:54:27","slug":"spare-the-bear-for-sustainabilitys-sake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/?p=3167","title":{"rendered":"Spare The Bear, For Sustainability’s Sake"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the joys of teaching and researching urban issues in London\u2014at least for some of us\u2014is experiencing pub culture and partaking of its liquid assets.\u00a0 Thus it was with great concern that I read an article<\/a> in yesterday\u2019s New York Times<\/i> detailing the threat to pub culture posed by shifting cultural tastes, escalating real estate prices, and predatory takeovers of \u201clocals\u201d (as England\u2019s distinctive neighborhood pubs are known to regular patrons) by large independent companies.\u00a0 One out of every 5 locals in Britain have disappeared over the last 20 years.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been turned into private residences, markets, and other uses.\u00a0 The pub is an iconic, tradition-soaked setting for much that is good in British social life, especially in very small communities.\u00a0 Brandon Lewis<\/a>, Parliament\u2019s Community Pubs Minister<\/a>, is quoted by the Times<\/i> as saying that pubs serve as \u201cthe focal point for fund-raising for the community, for the local football club, for the dance class, for the moms\u2019 coffee morning.\u201d\u00a0 Thus, their increasing extinction rate doesn\u2019t bode well for community sociability and possibly other cultural institutions. One might even identify the disappearance of locals as a serious challenge to community sustainability.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Old White Bear, Hampstead, London (D. Saitta)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Times<\/i> story profiled one pub at risk, The Old White Bear<\/a> in Hampstead<\/a>, a village that’s part of the north London borough of Camden<\/a>.\u00a0 The Bear has occupied its spot on Well Road for 300 years. \u00a0It was recently bought by a group of developers and closed its doors on February 2.\u00a0 My wife Martha and I know it well, because Hampstead was our base of operations for two terms teaching study abroad in London (in 2004 and 2008), and a research trip last year to study post-Olympics regeneration in the capital and intercultural urbanism in Leicester<\/a>.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure that there are stories to be told, as one Times<\/i> reader did, about the \u201cless salubrious impacts of pubs on local communities.\u201d However, some of our fondest memories of England are of enjoying a pint (or two) in the wonderfully rustic and atmospheric Bear while waiting to pick up our young son Joe from Heathside Preparatory School (visible right above the rim of Martha\u2019s glass in the picture below) just up the New End road.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A Toast to The Bear, from The Bear (D. Saitta, M. Rooney)<\/p><\/div>\n

Fortunately\u00a0English law,\u00a0through the Localism Act of 2011<\/a>, allows citizens to petition to have a pub designated as an \u201casset of community value<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 Two thousand petition signatories<\/a> have allowed The Old White Bear to be so designated, and the Camden Council has so far refused permission to turn the building into a private residence.\u00a0 The developers have vowed to fight, and The Bear\u2019s future is\u00a0uncertain. \u00a0On this side of the pond we\u2019re hoping for the best, and we toast one closing night patron\u2019s ode to a venerable community asset:<\/p>\n

“Let\u2019s be brave, let\u2019s be bold,<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s believe in this White Bear of old;<\/p>\n

Raise a glass and say,<\/p>\n

We close tonight, to return another day.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the joys of teaching and researching urban issues in London\u2014at least for some of us\u2014is experiencing pub culture and partaking of its liquid assets.\u00a0 Thus it was with great concern that I read an article in yesterday\u2019s New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[19,20,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-london","category-placemaking","category-sustainability"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1H2bI-P5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3167"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3179,"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3167\/revisions\/3179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.interculturalurbanism.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}