The data shows at least a two-speed sector. While independents are suffering disproportionately, managed pub groups are both adding sites and seeing real sales growth, if still modest.

Even the Financial Times highlighted the fact that while shares in each of the five listed UK pub groups - Mitchells & Butlers, JD Wetherspoon, Young’s, Marston’s and Fuller's - have seriously lost ground over the past decade, in the last three months each of these listed operators has actually outperformed the FTSE 250. 

That may say more about confidence in the wider economy, and it hardly compares with the UK’s super-star hospitality stock Compass, but it shows that some investors at least see a sunny side - and the sector is not judged to be in terminal decline.

What the FT also highlighted though is that trading is not easy and some might even say cut-throat, with all the major pub operators - listed and PE-backed alike - competing hard for customers with the roll-out of discount-laden loyalty apps. Wetherspoons is the one exception - as ‘value-pricing’ has always been in its DNA.

What’s been just as interesting is the confidence of those looking towards the premium end of the market - and especially among smaller locally-based multiple site owners and independents. Perhaps finding a profitable niche has always been the secret of pub success.

What unites all of them is the imperative to look for growth. Without that there’s no chance of restoring either margins or the bottom-line in the wake of the new costs the sector is living with.

Cost-cutting alone is not going to work, and that can be seen in the parts of the pub market not being refreshed with at least a modicum of investment. Don’t let’s kid ourselves, we‘ve all seen the effect of a lack of financial resources among many, often independent, players: fewer staff; unprepared, badly trained teams; dirty, uncleared tables; smaller menus and drinks ranges. It’s a dull downward spiral that usually only ends one way. Business can be cruel.

But as Bex Wilkins, one of those independents upbeat about the opportunities for doing things well, said about closures: “It’s not the pubs. It’s the businesses.” 

The former marketing director of Peach Pubs gave up corporate life to run the now award-winning Wildmoor Oak in Bromsgrove with partner Sarah. The business hit £1.3m turnover in its first year, paid off its debts, and is now powering a second opening - proof that with the right offer, pubs can thrive. Decline isn’t inevitable.

Wilkins has used the skills and insight learned from her corporate years not just to drive sales through quality - from £70 sharing steaks to whole lemon sole at £32, the Wildmoor Oak doesn’t shy away from premium pricing either - but to tackle cost pressures and productivity head-on.

Menu design, prep efficiencies, kitchen kit choices, and labour planning are all under the microscope. She’s also helping to ‘educate’ her pubco partner. Both pubs are tenancies with Star Pubs & Bars, a partnership Bex values - but it’s not without challenges. “They weren’t used to the kit we wanted or our level of offer,” she says. “But they’re learning, and we’ve earned their trust.”

One of the big lessons is that the engine room of most pubs these days is not the bar, but the kitchen. Even in wet-led managed pubs food accounts for almost 30% of sales on average, according to the CGA Tracker.

Pub operators optimistically and confidently planning for growth can be found in most parts of the country, including my own backyard in the Midlands, whether it’s Sam Haggar’s Beautiful Pubs Collective in Leicester or a family brewer like Everards.

Haggar’s latest initiative is actually with Everards - a £750,000 joint investment (at least) at The Old Horse, a prime location overlooking the city’s Victoria Park, which will come with a German beer garden makeover.

He’s just completed the refit of another Everards’ pub, The Rutland & Derby, a drinkers pub in the city centre with a court-yard transformation, a roof terrace (with table service), live music, a tight bar menu featuring premium burgers, and live sport (it’s a favourite with Leicester Tigers fans). Already sales have seen a 75% uplift.

Everards, under the guidance of ex-Greene King and Caffè Nero executive Andy Wilson, is also going the premium route across its tenanted estate, and with its exclusive range of guest beers becoming the heroes. It is seeing volume uplifts in both cask and keg beer which in turn is driving overall pub sales.

The pressures on the market are real, but why can’t we focus more on those that are getting on the front foot. They are not hard to find - and they are where the public are going to choose to be.