British pubs are closing at a rate of more than 50 a week, according to industry figures. The number of watering holes shutting up shop increased by a third in the first six months of 2009 to around 52 every week.

The British Beer and Pubs Association (BBPA) said the closure rate means a total of 2,377 pubs have closed over the last 12 months with the loss of 24,000 jobs. The BBPA blames above-average increases in alcohol duty, the cost of regulation and the recession for the worrying trend.

The smoking ban, poor weather last summer and cheap alcohol offers in supermarkets have also been blamed for driving drinkers away from the pubs.

Do you still have a traditional British pub in your area? Do you still use it? What do you think is to blame for the pub industry’s slow demise?

Chancellor Alistair Darling has made his second annual Budget speech to parliament. Among the measures announced to the House were an increase in petrol duty of 2p per litre in September and a 2 percent increase in alcohol and tobacco duties from tonight.

Darling also announced a scrappage scheme offering £2,000 to people trading in cars older than 10 years for a newer vehicle. From next April there will be a new top tax rate of 50 percent for those earning more than 150,000 pounds a year.

Meanwhile, the annual limit on individual savings accounts has been raised to 10,200 pounds and the Stamp Duty holiday on properties sold for less than 175,000 was extended until the end of the year. There was also money for wind farms and an extra 1 billion pounds to help homeowners and the construction industry.

Darling also forecast that the UK economy will shrink by 3.5 percent in 2009, saying “No country could insulate itself from the world downturn.”

David Cameron, leader of the opposition Conservative party, said: “He is planning to borrow 348 billion pounds over the next two years, that is more — over just two years — than every previous government put together, not just every government since World War Two … but since the Bank of England was first founded more than 300 years ago. This budget does not do enough to bring the public finances under control.”

What did you make of the Chancellor’s Budget speech? Will you benefit from any of the measures? What are your thoughts on the increase in fuel, alcohol and tobacco duties? Do you think the scrappage scheme and new tax rate are a good idea? Finally, do you think it will have a positive effect on the UK economy?

Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson has recommended that the government should sharply raise the price of alcohol  to try to combat Britain’s chronic drinking problem.

His annual report calls for a minimum price of 50 pence per unit of alcohol sold, which would nearly double the price of some discount beer and wine. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have also shown interest in minimum pricing.

But the government is under no obligation to accept any such recommendation and is aware of the unpopularity of raising alcohol prices in a recession and not so far away from a general election.

Gordon Brown rejected the proposal outright.

The Conservatives say it is important to deal with people’s attitudes to drinking, not just supply and price, while the Liberal Democrats support putting an end to “pocket-money priced” alcohol.

What do you think? Does price play much of a part in Britain’s binge-drinking culture?

The government has recommended that parents should not allow children to drink alcohol until they reach the age of 15, in the latest attempt to stop the growing tide of juvenile drinking.

It says its research has found clear parental guidelines make a difference.

“Evidence … shows that things that families do … to point out the negative and health effects of alcohol lead to children drinking much later nearer to adulthood and drinking moderately in adult life,” says Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson.

The law leaves control of drinking at home to a parent’s discretion and only bars the consumption of alcohol by children under five. Some parents allow their children to drink with them occasionally in the hope of demystifying the allure of alcohol and teaching them responsible ways.

Others however say this is just another example of the “nanny state” and that what parents may or may not say has very little sway once the kids are out on the town, bent on getting drunk.

Do you believe that what children learn at home about alcohol makes any difference?

Mayor Boris Johnson’s ban on drinking alcohol on the London underground starts on Sunday.The news hasn’t gone down well in some quarters and plenty of groups on Facebook have said they will be holding protest wakes.

Others believe the ban will have little effect on threatening behaviour on the tube anyway — most people who cause problems are drunk anyway and only a few are actually carrying cans with them, they say.

Do you believe the ban will make much difference?