Amol Rajan
speaker
3,997 appearances
23 recordings
6 series
first heard Feb 2026
last heard 16 Jul
Amol Rajan’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 23 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 12.
Appearances
But this conversation is not about one successful pub.
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It's kind of about the opposite.
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It's about whether Britain is allowing one of its great social institutions to disappear.
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Pubs have been part of our history for hundreds of years.
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They have shaped our national identity, our literature, our sport, our music, our communities.
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They're one of the few places left where people of different ages, backgrounds, politics and professions might still find themselves in the same room.
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And if you're getting the sense from this that I am a fan of the pub, you are absolutely right.
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I love pubs.
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I think they're incredibly precious social institutions, but they are closing fast.
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Did you know?
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that two pubs are closing every single day in this country and if it's a big if if they kept closing at the current rate they would all be gone by 2050 and the disappearance of british pubs would constitute a pretty radical change to the way we live our lives
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Why is this happening?
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What could be done?
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Or perhaps we should be asking whether anything should be done at all, whether these historic institutions are indeed outdated, should be left in the past.
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Well, Ashene is trying to prove that a good pub can still be a serious answer to modern problems, whether they're cultural, social or commercial.
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He doesn't simply want to preserve the pub like some sort of pickled onion behind the bar.
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He thinks the best pubs are not museum pieces or some ancient part of our inheritance, not just businesses selling alcohol.
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They are social infrastructure, living, noisy, commercially viable spaces where people can eat, drink, talk, argue, celebrate and belong.
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and he has got some radical ideas to keep them going.
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Before we keep going, a quick reminder, if you subscribe to Radical on BBC Sounds, you won't miss future episodes, including Your Radical Questions, our episode that is driven by you, which is released every Monday, and where we put your radical questions to our brilliant guests.
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Showing 1021–1040 of 3,997 · page 52 of 200
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