By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 12/08/2026In other words, every street that *feels* like it should have a Gail's will *eventually* get a Gail's, whereupon that street will feel even more like all the other streets that have a Gail's, because it will share one more common factor with those other streets (a Gail's). 41/ 1446
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 12/08/2026Leek points here to her earlier work on pub closures in the UK. The UK has experienced an epidemic of pub closures, with thousands of pubs disappearing since 2016: laurenleek.substack.com/p/britain-lo... 42/laurenleek.substack.comBritain Lost 14,000 Third Places. They Were Called Pubs. Is Your Local Next?How private equity reshaped the local and the postcode tool that shows the pubs most at risk. 2432
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 12/08/2026Her research found that the biggest predictor of a pub surviving was its similarity to the median pub; which is to say that the more distinctive a pub was, the more "character" it had, the more likely it was to close. 43/ 1625
ProjectAllende.org / ProjectAllende @ substack @projectallende.bsky.social · 12/08/2026UK pubs don't die thy are eaten alive by transnational private equity... They are assets on a balance sheet that extract value while destroying community 03820