All industries are making special pleading for Government action, and many have good cases for bailouts or action to put more money into people’s pockets to stimulate demand. But while shops, carmakers, estate agents, and builders are likely to bounce back, albeit eventually, the long-term pressures on pubs show no sign of abating.

Pubs have been hit hard by aggressive discounting of alcohol by supermarkets which seems to be accelerating, despite the multiples’ claims to be socially responsible. Eighteen bottles of premium lager for £6.99 and 45 cans of lager for £18?

Another gripe is that the Government is increasing beer duty above inflation by 2 per cent for every year until 2012.Both of these pressures are leading people to knock back booze at home, with a considerable increase in “pre-loading” – the often speedy imbibing people do at home before heading out.

Thirty-six pubs are closing every week, 18 times faster than in 2005, the British Beer and Pub Association warned in September. Then, leisure analyst Mark Brumby estimated 5,000 to 6,000 pubs would close by 2012.

Camra’s figures suggest the situation is bleaker yet for Britain’s 57,000 pubs, with local community boozers the worst affected.

Now, it must be said that the pub industry has brought some of the trouble on itself by alienating politicians with dumb anti-social behaviour.

Many of its biggest players have been happy to strip historic pubs of their character and troop drinkers into standing room-only alcohol warehouses where conversation is rendered impossible by loud music. In the past, reckless happy hour promotions have encouraged excessive (as opposed to merely heavy) drinking, with all the serious social and crime problems that brings.

The ruinously greedy pubcos - which own thousands of pubs apiece -have bled their landlords dry with such excessive rent and beer prices that the landlords are being pushed under, with potentially ruinous effects on the heavily-indebted companies themselves (watch this space).

Taking a wider historical view, though, a valued part of our heritage and culture is slipping away.

In London now, many pubs no longer serve our national beer, bitter, never mind pale ale, mild, porter, or stout that isn’t Guinness. Many have been turned into modern bars (which have their place), or had their bold Victorian interiors emulsioned into tasteful taupe or olive, and their quirky or stolid signs removed.

Still, many fine examples of characterful pubs exist, many with excellent landlords. In the capital, a few of mine are: the Cat’s Back in Putney, the Park Tavern in Kingston, and the Old Cheshire Cheese in Fleet Street. But every pub-goer has his own favourites.

At their best, pubs are important engines of social cohesion. They are rooted in the past, but also deserve a future, as one of the few remaining authentic facets of British life. Perhaps when Alistair Darling stands up to present his Pre-Budget report, he should reconsider whether he wants to squeeze more of them out of business.