Fun times ahead...

The publication last week of the latest GDP figures showing the UK economy contracted by half a per cent in the final three months of 2010 came as a blow to many in the pub industry and beyond. Way beyond.

Whatever the reason for the regression - George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said the recent bad weather was partly to blame - and whether you blame the coalition government's spending cuts for the current malaise or Labour's (mis)management of the economy, there's no doubt that money to spend on the nicer things in life will be in even shorter supply for most people in the months to come.

Wages in real terms are likely to fall further and further behind the cost of living, said Bank of England guv'nor Mervyn King last week.

King's comments, that we should expect things to be pretty bad for a while yet, will have caused many a business heart to sink. At least the sense that interest rates could stay as they are for the rest of 2011 will have softened the blow for some.

And at least he balanced his downbeat analysis with the more confident line that the economy will recover sooner rather than later, though his cautious optimism will be of cold comfort to many pub operators - group or individual.

So where do pubs stand? In some parts of the UK, where local economies are under the cosh, the simple answer is 'mightily bloodied'. Pubs just aren't the places you go to to moan about the economy anymore.

There are pockets of resistance. Pubs in good locations do well, even in such dour times as these. And people on top of their businesses can expect to come through the worst of it.

For many others it will be a case of surviving, never mind thriving…