Lateralist Planning - An Alehouse Bluprint

On the Sunday just passed, I walked to my local pub (see "coaster" blog for clarification) for a few afternoon pints with my good friend, who happens to be the co-founder of this site. That we walked there had nothing to do with his inability to legally ride a scooter. It had more to do with my inability to illegally ride a hypothetical scooter.

As we walked the short and pleasant walk to the pub, he remarked that walking to a pub is one of life's simple pleasures. How right he was. The day in question was not only sunny and warm, but it was sunny and warm on the Sunday of a long weekend, which is a confluence of almost divine proportions. And on the way there, we observed one of nature's wonders; the resident eccentric. A man of indeterminate middle-age sitting on what would have been his if porch he'd had one - and was instead the footpath - drinking a beer, and listening to surprisingly loud music blaring from inside his house. Accompanied by his dog, which was (appropriately) a blue heeler. A short walk to beer, and a chap living his own personal dream as a topic for conversation. Life seemed pretty damn fine.

And the thought occurred that embedded in our sojourn was a possibility for societal reform too exciting not to share. It is hereby proposed that no house anywhere in Perth ought to be built that is more than fifteen minutes walking distance from a pub or tavern. Why? I'll tell you why.

The community watering hole isn't the focus of local communities, but it should be. We are not so evolved as a society to have transcended the tipple, but a simple, social drink is all too socially inaccessible. The demise of "the local" has meant that people either simply drink at home or the homes of friends, or they pile into taxis - which is hardly cheap - and make their way to pubs for beers in suburbs miles from where they live. And if it's going to cost them upwards of forty bucks just to get there and back - assuming they're not stupid or lazy enough to drink and drive - they decide that they might as well make a quality night of it, and drink themselves into oblivion. A shame.

Part of the means by which a society like ours can move to a genuine drinking culture from the shambles of the drunken culture that we currently endure is to make drinking - and I mean a few drinks, not a bender - seem normal. A social drink is sustainable in every sense of the word: the body can sustain it, relationships can sustain it, and the planet can sustain it. I mean, it's certainly better to walk to the pub than burn fossil fuels on route to a hotel.

In fact, it makes further sense that not only should there be local pubs, there should be many more local breweries. Local beers are an unquestioned part of life in countries like Vietnam. In Hanoi, one has Bia Hoi. In Lao Cai, one has Beer Cai. Why on earth shouldn't I be able to get Victoria Park Lager in Victoria Park? It is an even greater shame.

For there to be a physical community in any place, the term "local" needs to mean something. So let's start with beer and pubs. I can walk to mine in about fourteen minutes. If they had a brew with my suburb's name on it, I'd start walking there right now. Well, that could happen anyway, I guess. But for a VP Lager, I reckon I'd be there in ten.