"60 MINUTES" GOES ON A POST-PANDEMIC PUB CRAWL TO REPORT ON THE POSSIBLE FUTURE OF "YE OLDE ENGLISH PUB"

The pandemic forced most English pubs to close for more than a year. The number of pubs was already in decline, and many wondered if COVID-19 would be their final death blow. When the pubs re-opened last summer, Jon Wertheim toured these bastions of English culture to see what their future may look like. 60 MINUTES cameras came along to record these cornerstones of community life in a state of flux, for this report to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES Sunday, Oct. 17 (7:30-8:30 PM, ET/7:00-8:00 PM, PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Wertheim speaks to the publicans behind the bar and their thirsty patrons, to gauge the temperature of a beloved institution struggling to survive in a rapidly changing world.

For generations, the number of British pubs has been declining - from 65,000 to fewer than 50,000 - in the last 25 years. The causes of death are many: high beer duty, a smoking ban, cheap supermarket lager, people drinking less. Among the biggest culprits are venture capitalists and developers more interested in a pub's real estate than what's on tap.

Wertheim's jaunt takes him to many traditional pubs, including Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in St Albans outside London, which claims to be the oldest pub in the country; Turner's Old Star in London's East End, one of the last of the so-called East End boozers; and the Bell Inn of Aldworth in Berkshire, which has been in the same family for more than 200 years. He also visits The Prince of Peckham in South London, where the Nigerian-born owner has taken the DNA of the traditional pub and updated it for 21st century multicultural Britain.

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