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Should We Care that Metal Pubs in the UK Are Dying Out?

Plastic skulls and smoke-stained velvet curtains feel kind of dated, but independent venues that cater to subcultures are worth saving.

The local heavy metal pub in my East Midlands hometown offered a lot of firsts during my formative years: my first gig; my first kiss (with a skater obviously called Ashton, by the cigarette machine as Disturbed crackled softly in the background); my first time getting stoned – and consequently projectile vomiting in the pub's garden. A 15-year-old and her screaming mates probably weren't the ideal clientele, but the joy we exuded from hanging out in a space that allowed us to be ourselves and drink Jägerbombs for less than a fiver seemed to pacify even the grumpiest of regulars.

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Metal pubs – in the UK at least – can be a rite of passage for a lot of people who don't fit in; for those of us who pulled our hoodie sleeves over our hands and lowered our heads as we shuffled down our local high street or got spat on in the school corridor for dressing like half-dead extras from a Pantera video. That said, they've also got a reputation for being full of old white straight dudes with sweaty ponytails, and while I was lucky that my local metal pub embraced me during my teenagedom, they can also be intimidating to people who don't necessarily care about Sons of Anarchy or wear the standard black tee uniform. So where exactly does that leave them today, at a time when plastic skulls and smoke-stained velvet curtains feel pretty dated, but when the need to save independent institutions that cater to a specific subculture feel important to swathes of us who still value it?

The UK Metal Venues Directory cites that there are over 400 metal pubs and venues in the UK right now. In recent years, however, Britain's nightlife has been in trouble – and that extends to the metal pub scene. Thanks to the constant sweep of gentrification and people who move into flats above venues only to then complain about the noise, adequate spaces for subcultures continue to dwindle. In 2009, roughly 52 pubs in the UK were shutting every week (in 2016 the Campaign for Real Ale reported that the number has now dropped"dramatically" to 21 a week – still a pretty bleak number) and a lot of those pubs will be metal spaces. If the one in my hometown helped me and my pals feel like we'd finally found our kindred spirits, I'd imagine they're still doing the same for young people all over the country, even if certain aspects of the culture can feel exclusionary or, as in some cases, genuinely problematic.

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