It seems that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is launching an initiative to investigate the problem of loneliness amongst elderly people. We at F2C welcome Government recognition of this issue and hope that particular attention is paid to the loss of community pubs, clubs and cafes.
Elderly pensioners used to be a feature of all community pubs. They’d sit and chat for hours on end whilst cradling a single pint of beer or cup of coffee. This afforded them both social interaction and fuel savings, particularly in winter. Many of them smoked too. On 1st July 2007, those that smoked were kicked out of all pubs, clubs and cafes – and even out of the communal lounges in care homes, sheltered residential homes, and from Darby and Joan clubs and Day Centres.
What’s more, with 11,000 pubs closing since the smoking ban, even non-smokers found their local pub, club or cafe, had gone forever. The result: social isolation for millions of them.
In February 2011, various F2C members and supporters documented this whole sorry issue in considerable detail (and a few typoes!) on a blog:
Loneliness Part 1, Loneliness Part 2, and Loneliness Part 3.
If you are short of time please try to take a look at the 3rd part at least, from which the video featured above was taken.