Susan Dalgety: Is it last orders for Scotland's pub culture?

One pub closes its doors permanently every week in Scotland, the Campaign for Real Ale has warned.

Susan has spent more time in the Jinglin' Geordie than she cares to remember. Picture: Greg Macvean

At that rate, Edinburgh will be bereft of pubs within a decade, which would be a disaster for weekend breakers, stag and hen dos, but would the rest of us notice?

When was the last time you were in pub? I used to frequent pubs with far more regularity than was necessary.

The Jinglin’ Geordie bar in Fleshmarket Close was my tavern of choice for years and I blush when I recall the amount of time, and money, I spent there.

These days I make an occasional foray to my local Wetherspoons, but for a breakfast meeting with a good friend and colleague, not a large vodka and diet coke.

When I do fancy a tipple, which is most days, I pour myself a glass of Spanish table wine from Lidl and settle down on the sofa.

And when I want company, I invite friends round for a bite to eat, or go round to theirs. Pubs, once the centre of my life, are now a rare treat.

And I am not alone. Even millennials are abandoning their local for the nearest coffee shop.

It seems like we are all calling time on that most Scottish of institutions, the pub.