Pub landlords and landladies help keep the social fabric from fraying in towns, cities and villages around the nation, bringing people together and ensuring the beer flows as freely as the conversation.
But the number of watering holes across Britain has reportedly plummeted by a quarter over the last 25 years, as their owners and managers face pressures like never before.
These photos take us back to happier times for pubs and their landlords, during the 80s and 90s.
They show much-loved watering holes across Yorkshire, some of which have sadly closed since these nostalgic pictures were captured, though others are still going strong.
The publicans pictured include a brave couple who rescued a woman from a blazing flat; a long-serving landlord who made such an impact the pub was renamed in his honour; and a former football star who began pulling pints after hanging up his boots.
So let’s raise a glass to these landlords and landladies, and to the local institutions they ran, and let’s salute those still swimming against the tide to provide us with a welcoming place to drink today.
Do these photos bring back any happy memories for you, and which pubs from the 80s and 90s do you miss most?
25. Black Bull
Bob Sykes, landlord of The Black Bull in Reeth, pictured in May 1996 | Johnston Press Photo: Jamie Wiseman
27. Trotters
Landlords Stan and Carol Furness with partner Brian Middleton outside The Trotters pub, York Road, Leeds, in 1995 | YPN Photo: James Hardisty
28. Noose & Gibbet
Mel Humphries, landlord of the Noose & Gibbet Inn, with the new sign to be hung outside the pub, on Broughton Lane, Sheffield, in 1995 | YPN Photo: Chris Lawton