If you reckon pubs are just places to sink pints and watch the footy, you’d be missing the point entirely. In Australia, pubs, especially broad‑based locals, represent social infrastructure, vital “third places” beyond home and work. They’re often where blokes connect, share stories, and sometimes save each other’s sanity.
The problem is, they’re also under threat, whether due to rising costs, changing consumer habits, for stricter licensing laws. These pressures are particularly acute in rural communities, where pubs serve as vital social hubs.
Pubs in Peril
Australia has over 5,000 pubs, but closures are mounting, particularly in regional towns. And as Royal Hotel publican Leanne Stockade put it in a recent ABC report: “If the pub closes, the town dies usually,”
In rural Victoria, the Creekside Hotel, after 154 years serving the community, has recently shut down. Soaring bills, shrinking spending and tougher regulation finally pushed it over the line. This is far from unique; as Auscast Network lamented in 2025, numerous rural communities are losing these beating hearts.
Australia is not alone. British pubs are closing at a rate of one per day in 2025 due to high business taxes, according to the British Beer and Pub Association. The hospitality industry is urging ministers to address rising costs, as 378 closures this year could also lead to 5,600 job losses.
Why Aussie Pubs Matter
Australia’s rural pubs have historically doubled as post offices, general stores, meeting halls or even schools. The pub was often the first public building in newly founded outback towns. In sociological terms, these are classic “third places,” offering neutrality, camaraderie and a safety‑valve for everyday stress. Working‑class blokes (and anyone else) turn up to laugh, grumble, or even have a proper personal yarn on occasion.
A Pub With a Purpose
Some pubs go further than that. If you ever find yourself in Tenterfield, Northern NSW, check out the Deepwater Hotel, revived by Stuart and Suzi O’Neill. Since reopening in late 2022, they’ve not just restored a 150‑year‑old pub, they’ve reinvented it as Australia’s first Mental Health Pub.
Stuart, author of Just One Reason, (a guide to help individuals during moments of crisis), turned his own struggles into a tool for conversation. The pub features suicide awareness ribbons, copies of his mental‑health toolkit, and an ambiance designed for openness, comfortable armchairs, communal tables, pet‑friendly beer gardens. The idea: give folks a safe, informal space to talk if and when they need it. Life‑saving chats have happened at the bar, in the garden, over dinner. No pressure, just possibility.
They also run monthly dinners where strangers become friends, sharing food and stories in cosy atmosphere. Always sold out. Guests often meet people they never expected to chat to, and keep coming back for the long table camaraderie.
This is pub work elevated. A rural local stepping up as social anchor, conversation-starter and mental‑health lifeline.
Community Models, Not Pokies
Thankfully, the community pub model is catching on, especially in small towns. In regional Victoria, residents in places like Dingee, Apsley and Boolarra have banded together to buy their closed pubs, steering them clear of pokies and turning each into a community hub.
The Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld, built in 1855, now thrives as both tourist destination and local anchor thanks to smart renovation and events. It’s an example of how pubs recapture their role as diverse places where conversation, support and community thrive.
The Value of a Pint
It’s tempting to reduce pubs to pokies profits and overpriced pints. But look closer: they’re economic engines, tourism magnets, and above all, safe third spaces. In an environment without gambling machines, everyone relaxes. And men (particularly those not used to opening up) often find the right words come easier over a beer than in front of a therapist.
What Needs to Be Done
- Reintroduce community‑ownership funds: much like UK’s scrapped Community Ownership Fund. Government support for communities to buy their locals is vital.
- Ease regulatory burdens: excises, labour costs, and strict liquor laws hit rural pubs hardest. Relief here saves bricks, mortar, and community glue. It also means pubs don’t have to turn to pokies just to eke out a living.
- Encourage diversification: pubs offering rooms, events, local food, music can draw broader crowds, without sacrificing community spirit.
- Promote regional tourism: pub trails, heritage stories, local produce are key draws. Visitors supporting locals help keep them alive.
- By your mate a drink: we can each play our part by supporting our local boozers (no this is not an encouragement to consume alcohol excessively, but it is an encouragement to reach out, connect with a friend and have a chat).
Raise Your Glass
The decline of the Aussie pub isn’t nostalgia dressed up as tragedy, it’s a real blow to rural life, identity and men’s third spaces. Without pubs like the Deepwater Hotel, towns lose more than a bar. They lose a safe conversation corner, a community chest, a social spine. And what’s a handful of houses without their pub? Just a crossroads with a sign.
Let’s back community ownership, mental‑health pubs, diverse events and local tooling. Because civilisation is made of shared stories, and spilled pints. Couldn’t hurt to toast that.
There’s a reason the podcast Don’t Let the Old Man In resonates with thousands of men navigating midlife. It speaks to the quiet war many fight against obsolescence, irrelevance, and a determination to navigate life’s crossroads with clarity and confidence. And likewise, if you’re reading this, you haven’t given up. You’re still curious. Maya Angelou once said, “If you’re always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” Would Mary Angelou appeal to our everyman audience? Midlife career change isn’t about being extraordinary. It’s about being aligned—with yourself. I am wondering if we would be better of repurposing some content from our manifesto.
Stephen Keys is the Producer of the Don’t Let the Old Man In podcast. Listen on YouTube, Apple, Spotify or wherever you tune in. Find more thoughts on living gracefully (and disgracefully) in the second half of life at The Wisdom Vault, on LinkedIn, Substack and even (!) Instagram.
