THE frustration facing former regulars of the Rose Grower pub in Bramcote will become known to drinkers at plenty of other pubs.

For good reason or bad, the licensed trade is struggling to hold on to customers.

Duty on alcohol is high, yet supermarkets and major off-licence chains are marketing canned beer as loss-leaders.

The view many people take is this: why go down to my local, no matter its many attractions, if I can go to a beer-off and take home a pint of my usual lager for less than half the price?

There are other factors, of course, like the tobacco ban which has alienated some customers who are also heavy smokers.

But for one reason or another several of Nottingham's empty pubs are likely to be going the same way as the Rose Grower – sold by its brewery so that the site can be put to another use.

If other breweries or pub chains believe they can make money where others cannot, we would much prefer to see these buildings – many of them historic hostelries – staying in the licensed trade.

But if prospective licensees cannot be convinced that the business is there, better that the buildings are put to good use than remain boarded up.

We hear what campaigners say about the Rose Grower, and we also lament its passing – but a nursing home serving local pensioners is surely better for the community than an empty pub waiting in vain for new management.