I was intrigued to see this week that the catering giant Punch Taverns might be obliged to sell off a lot of its pubs if it succeeeds in taking over rival Mitchells & Butlers. As The Times reported: "Analysts believe that to satisfy local market dominance issues, it may be forced to sell up to 300 pubs."

Could this, I wonder, be connected in any way with what has happened at one of my locals, the White House, in Botley Road? It has been closed now since late summer. The fine old building - once the toll house on the turnpike from the west - has been boarded up and plastered with unsightly posters.

When some friends of mine sought to negotiate a tenancy there, they were told by Punch that a deal had already been struck with someone else. As months pass, however, there seems no prospect of the place going back into business.

Most people in the area expect that we have seen the last pint pulled there, the last meal served, and that very soon the city planners will be mulling over an application for conversion into housing. I hope this will not be its fate, but fear that I am destined to be disappointed.