‘People don’t go out’: the town where half the pubs have vanished

Accrington and its surrounding district have lost 50 of 95 public houses since 2001. But why?

Fifteen years ago, taxi driver Basharat Khan would drive past the Hyndburn Inn on Accrington’s Blackburn Road and marvel at how packed it was. He never went inside – he doesn’t drink – but he noted its reliably heaving beer garden.

These days, Khan is inside the building most days: six years ago he converted it into a halal butcher’s shop, which he runs with his son, Waqar. Instead of pints of bitter, the pair sell 3kg of keema (mince) for £10.50 and give out Indian sweets rather than peanuts to their customers.

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