All the evidence points towards high pressures on pubs, particularly economic. One of the biggest knocks to the industry since the Beer Orders in 1989 came in 2007 with the imposition of the smoking ban.
Some have said this ban came from a government out of touch with pubs, but arguably it represented a change in attitudes towards society.Supermarket prices for alcohol have hit the headlines over the last month or so after the Tesco director for corporate affairs Lucy Neville-Rolfe conceded that there should be a minimum per unit price for alcohol.
Supermarkets have been criticised for using alcohol as a 'loss leader'.The announcement came in the wake of a National Institute for Clinical Excellence study, which found that excessive alcohol consumption cost the NHS £2.7bn a year, and said that there should be a ban on alcohol advertising.
This type of ban would have its own ramifications for on license premises, but where once people would do the vast majority of their drinking and socialising at the pub, now the more popular - and more importantly cheaper - option is to buy a case of lager at the supermarket and invite your friends over.
Roger Clarke is the local vet in Upton, and a regular at The White Horse.
He said: "When you can buy a can of lager for 50p, but have to pay around three quid for it in here, it's obvious where people are going to - particularly in a recession."
The Fox Inn at Garboldisham has had a planning application submitted to transform it into housing, and is the last of five pubs in the village to close. The others have all become housing.
Where the landlords and pub owners may argue with the local communities that try to fight their closure is over their worth to the community.
Ray Norman, landlord at The White Horse at Upton (which was recently saved from closure), said: "We had 140 people come to our first meeting to save the pub.
"If every one of them came in once a week and spent ten quid, we wouldn't have a problem."
Drinking outside of the home has led to suggestions in some areas that this could be related to the binge drinking culture that has grown in the UK.
Norwich North MP Chloe Smith said: "I don't think it should be a pubs responsibility to encourage people to drink sensibly, but I do believe in a pub setting you have a place where people can enjoy a social activity.
"But importantly you can do this up and and down the age scale.
"I don't think the closure of pubs is the reason for our binge drinking culture, but there are parallels that can be drawn between the two."
