I AM at a loss to understand the fuss about the closure of the Ampleforth Arms.

With pubs closing at an alarming rate throughout the UK this is just a casualty of a culture that is more akin to the dinosaur than the mobile phone. Back in the good old days (or were they?) pubs were the centre of the community, they acted as a hub for local news and provided modest entertainment for regulars.

Nowadays the local has little to offer young people who use Facebook to find out what’s going on and prefer the nightlife generated in the city hotspots for there entertainment.

We have already witnessed the demise of the working men’s clubs, and the social clubs so prevalent in the 60s and 70s.

Soon all the estate pubs will be gone, as to will the village pubs or those at least that have nothing to offer for the traveller.

What can save them? Well, food is now essential, and I am aware that in some remote areas pubs have been taken over and run as community projects.

Perhaps one or two could become museums for school children to visit in an effort to preserve our heritage or will they like the grocers, post office and library just be lost forever.

NICK DUVAL
The Highwayman
Kidlington