First the post office, now the local watering hole. The Telegraph reports that the other hub of community life - the village pub - seems to be in severe danger.
Last year 1,409 closed, almost seven times more than in 2006.
Matt Eley, the editor of Publican magazine, told me that the four-a-day figure is a bit misleading because it includes pubs that have closed but may reopen under a different owner. Eley says 57 closures a month is more accurate... so that makes two closures a day. Still a lot.
Pub sales are almost half what they were at their height in 1979 - back then 60m pints were sold a day, helping to make the winter of discontent pass a bit more contentedly.
The last time they were as low as now was the Great Depression.
It seems the combined effects of the smoking ban and cheaper alcohol from supermarkets have done for pubs.
Isn't this a bit of a shame? Do you really not mind that your front room has become your local? Who's going to clear away the glasses at the end of the night?
* This is an extended extract from the Wrap, theguardian.com's digest of the day's papers
