John Porter: When trouble comes a'calling

I'm not a Daily Mail​ reader, but my mum is. And just at the moment, I'm having a bit of a tough time convincing her that the Mail's​ rather strident view of the pub trade isn't the correct one.

She lives opposite a pub, a managed house operated by a major national brewer who I won't name here, if only because the problems it faces are far from unique.

The pub was built in the 1960s on what I imagine the town planners thought would be a village green, but has in fact turned out to be an anonymous bit of suburban space mainly used as a dog's lavatory and a gathering place for underoccupied teenagers.

The clientele are a mixed bag. Joint action by the police and local council a decade or so back closed down two 'trouble' pubs on a nearby estate, and some of the trouble migrated. It's never been enough to close the pub, but a few low level scumbags use it as a place to watch the football, play pool, and to hurl abuse at each other come closing time

Mum is not anti-pub per se​, but she's had a fair amount to put up with. Noise and litter are more or less a given, and last year a young couple decided to get amorous in her hedge after the pub turned out. It took some hours work with the secateurs to sort out the resulting carnage, and the young lovers can be glad the lady of the house didn't have her pruning tools to hand when they were in full swing.

Then just last week, a loud and potentially violent altercation in the pub car park was broken up by other customers. Unfortunately, the next day the two individuals concerned decided to resume hostilities on the pavement outside Mum's house.

One of them was armed with a hammer, and the bout ended with his opponent being dragged away by a friend with blood streaming from a head wound.

This is not a particularly rough area - it's in the leafy and relatively well heeled suburbs. It's simply that the pub has been neglected by an operator happy with steady lager sales and not too fussed how it gets them. The pub hasn't been helped by a succession of managers over the past few years. Residents have found it very hard to find anyone willing to take ownership of the problem.

The police and council blame the pub, but the only time anyone from head office has shown up is when the residents association recently and successfully opposed plans for a smoking shelter which would have put some of the pub's livelier regulars literally on their doorsteps.

This week, the newly appointed management couple held a meeting for residents and set out their plans for the pub. Mum, for one, was impressed by their sincerity but is understandably sceptical about their chances of success. How well they do depends on how easy it is to marginalise and 'lose' the undesirable customers, a problem faced by many publicans. I'll keep you posted.