Muslims are partly to blame for the decline in the number of pubs in Britain because they are teetotal, a Conservative peer has said.
Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, who was previously a director at one of Britain's biggest brewers, said that the "tides of history" have led to large numbers of Muslims in Britain's cities who do not drink.
He said that "socioeconomic change" is more responsible for the decline of pubs than "rapacious" pub chains.
He said: "I identify three fundamental features behind this. The first is the rapid rate of socioeconomic change in Britain. Twenty-five years ago, the company of which I was a director would have operated probably a dozen pubs in Kidderminster, the home of the carpet trade. » | Steven Swinford, Senior Political Correspondent | Thursday, December 04, 2014
