Dale Ingram, a consultant from Planning for Pubs, knows about the plight of the much-loved Britsh pub.
"If you look back to the early 1980s there were 68,000 pubs in this country," he said. "There are now less than 48,000."
"We’ve lost 20,000 pubs".
"We have a particularly pernicious problem in London and that really comes down to the extremely high value of the land".
In many instances, pub owners are selling their properties against the wishes of their licensees and loyal patrons, sparking dozens of grassroots campaigns to fight off planned closures.
Some communities have even raised enough funds to buy back their local pub and keep the drinks flowing.
"If you look back to the early 1980s there were 68,000 pubs in this country. There are now less than 48,000."
James Watson is fighting to keep his pub, The Chesham Arms, from closing.
"We’ve gotten to the stage now that neighbourhoods are really starting to feel the pinch and people think well, 'If the next one closed, I’d have nowhere to go to meet my mates, I’d have nowhere to go and plat darts, I’d have nowhere to play pool, we’d have nowhere to go after a funeral, we’d have nowhere to go to wet the baby’s head after my wife or neighbour gives birth'," he said.
"It's not just about going out for a drink."
"It’s that basic human need to rub along with other people of the same communities and other diverse communities - to meet people you wouldn’t ordinarily meet”.
"The bar counter of the English pub is the last place in society where the British reserve is lifted, where people can strike up a conversation with a total stranger."
The latest battle is focused on The Duke of Wellington, a small pub in East London, nestled beneath a towering skyline of modern high-rise developments.
Not far from historic Petticoat Lane and Spitalfields Market, it dates back to 1850, The Duke as it is known to the locals, has featured in many films and music videos and infamously appeared in the Jack the Ripper files.
The building’s owner has applied to redevelop the pub into a residential and retail space, which patrons fear will spell the end of one of the last surviving traditional Eastend establishments.
"Fundamentally, it’s about having a place where people – all people – can get together, socialise and interact".
“It’s totally wrong,” licensee Vinny Mulhern told SBS World News.
“Expensive housing has got its place, but it hasn’t got it here”.
"Fundamentally, it’s about having a place where people – all people – can get together, socialise and interact”.
The community is now fighting the local council, who will ultimately decide if the redevelopment goes ahead.
In 2012, the British Government introduced tougher planning laws, appointing a Community Pubs Minister with the power to protect pubs deemed to be an “asset of community value”.
So far, 600 pubs have been listed, which means they are safe from development or demolition.
"Pubs are literally part of the architectural and social fabric of communities," said Conservative Party candidate Matt Smith.
"They are also a way of life for many people, particularly the old and particularly the vulnerable, pensioners who perhaps live alone and their only regular social interaction happens at the local pub."
"Pubs are drivers or social integration and communities often have the wind sucked out of them when the local pub closes."
Hundreds of ratepayers have registered their objection to the proposed changes to The Duke of Wellington, that's fate now rests with local planning authorities.
200 years on from his greatest victory, regulars at The Duke's namesake hope he will once again prevail in this modern day stoush with British bureaucracy.
