Brexit, COVID-19, and the rural British pub: assessing the adaptive resilience of the 'local' amidst contemporary crises.

Following two decades of decline, British pubs are experiencing new rounds of
uncertainty and risk with the onset of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, the
possible impacts of these crises are unclear since they are unprecedented in their uneven
geographical and temporal manifestations. Such issues are acute for pubs in rural areas
due to their essential social, economic and cultural functions within their local socioeconomies.
In response, this research, in collaboration with the Plunkett Foundation,
aims to assess the adaptive resilience of rural British pubs in relation to contemporary
crises. While the notion of 'resilience' received much attention following the 2008 financial
crisis, the concept's ability to address the unique and interacting impacts of Brexit and
COVID-19 requires critical attention. With pubs performing central and essential civic and
economic functions within their local economies, centralising these within place-based
policy discussions surrounding rural resilience is not only possible but logical. The
geographically uneven, incremental and uncertain manifestations of Brexit and COVID-19
are an unprecedented and unfolding challenge for theory and policy. Through a multilevel
institutional approach, this research will strengthen conceptualisations of adaptive
resilience through assessing the formal and informal institutions through which it is
(re)produced across the UK's devolved nations. Thus, it seeks to formulate
recommendations for rural pubs and applications for emerging community resilience
policy in the UK. Importantly, it will identify the key vulnerabilities of and opportunities for
pubs in rural areas throughout contemporary economic crises and the application of these
findings for theorisations of resilience.