We need pubs - and for more than just pints.

They are the boozy beating hearts of our communities, a place to both raise glasses and drown sorrows.

This week the SNJ reported on the closure of The Ship Inn with great sadness - residents of Framilode could now lose their only village pub.

The Ship Inn in Framilode

What exactly this loss entails was illustrated on Monday in Stroud, when only standing room remained at The Crown and Sceptre for a public meeting.

Horns Road residents stood together - literally, at the bar - and together deliberated over drinks about how to tackle a rise in drug dealing in a nearby park.

The landlord of The Crown and Sceptre ahead of the public meeting

Yet there is also hope for Framilode.

Over in Minchinhampton - a town that knows all too well what life is like when the taps run dry - a 300-year-old pub that closed in 2012 is getting a new owner.

Minchinhampton's The Crown has got a new owner

Of course, praise for the pub should not detract from the importance of our other local institutions.

But, sometimes, a community needs somewhere less sobering than a council chamber.