The latest survey of pub prices released last week by CAMRA shows the average cost of real ale across the UK has risen to £2.15 a pint, while the cost of a pint of lager has risen to £2.36. This represents a rise of about 5 per cent since last year.

London and the South East is, not surprisingly the dearest area, with prices in some pubs topping the £3 mark for the first time, and averaging out at £2.32 for the real stuff.

I get lots of comments passed to me about the cost of a pint in Oxfordshire. At one time, anyone from north of Watford used to complain about "London prices" but from my recent experience, beer is no more expensive in the capital than it is in any of the major cities.

On the face of it, real ale is still better value for money than lager, keg cider or Guinness.

You'd generally expect to pay a premium for a hand-crafted, high quality product over its mass-produced alternative, but beer bucks this trend.

Indeed, the prices charged by Britain's craft brewers have increased at only the rate of inflation during the past twelve months.

Nevertheless, drinking in pubs is becoming more and more expensive, and increasing numbers of people are opting to drink at home at cheaper supermarket prices.

The direct result of this is pub closures, and Oxford has had more than its fair share recently.

Firstly we lost the Plasterers Arms, deemed to be unviable and demolished in favour of some luxury flats. We lost the Globe in Jericho, a prime candidate for conversion into houses, and now the King of Prussia is boarded up and awaiting its fate. Housing will be high on the list here too, I'm sure.

It was reported in the Oxford Mail this week that many small shops are considering closing down due to high rents and competition from the high street stores.

With pubs and businesses under threat, areas of the city such as Jericho are losing their diversity -- such as Lucy's, the boatyard, the Globe -- and are becoming purely areas of banal housing, with little access to community facilities and services. It's like Didcot, with a university.