Should Phones Be Banned in Pubs? (Your Radical Questions with Oisín Rogers)

**Amol Rajan** (0:08)
Hello and welcome to Your Radical Questions. This is where I put your questions to one of our magnificent radical guests. And once again, you've got very much involved, taking the opportunity to engage with the inspirational, interesting, influential people that we have on this podcast. And today, as you will know by now, we've got one of the country's most celebrated publicans, pub owners, known for turning the Guinea Grill in Mayfair into one of the great institutions before co-founding the Devonshire in Soho, which has been named the UK's number one gastro pub for 2026
In our Thursday episode, which if you haven't heard, you must go back and listen to, we talked about the really radical changes happening in the world of pubs, the fact that two of them were closing every single day. And if that rate were to continue, big if, there will be none left in 2050 That's probably not gonna happen because some pubs are very, very successful and very, very loved. One of them is run by Oisin, and he's got some pretty radical ideas on how you can fix the decline of pubs. If you haven't heard it yet, do go back and listen to that main podcast. But for now, it's wonderful to have you here. And Oisín, it's wonderful to have you here as well. You feeling ready for some radical questions?

**Oisín Rogers** (1:15)
I am, I feel ready, but I don't know what the questions are gonna be. So this is coming from the hip, as usual of me.

**Amol Rajan** (1:21)
Okay, as usual of you, we got used to that. We've got a lot of people who, like you, believe very strongly in the pub as an institution, and we're gonna hear from them now. The first question, thank you to Chris, who has sent us this voice note from the sunny South Coast.

**Chris Rowe** (1:35)
Hi, Oisin and Amol. My name is Chris Rowe. I work as a bartender with the Duke of Wellington in Shoreham-by-Sea, down here on the South Coast of England, not far from Brighton. The owner of the Welly and founder of the Dark Star Brewery, Rob Jones, died just a few weeks ago. His influence and love for the pub will be much missed, and he leaves a great legacy behind him.
One of his wishes for the Welly was that it becomes a cooperative venture where the management and staff all have a vested interest in the day-to-day running of the pub. I would love to know what Oisin's thoughts are on pubs becoming cooperatives. Do you have any experience of this as a business model, and can you see a future in pubs being managed this way?
My thanks to you both, and hey, pop in for a pint should you be down this way. There's always some live music and real ale to be had, or as Mr. Jones would say, live ale and real music. All the best, guys. Cheers.

**Amol Rajan** (2:37)
Chris, thank you very much indeed, and sorry to hear about the death of Rob Jones. It's really interesting, Chris, if I may say, that you raise this idea of a cooperative venture. I'll put your question to Oisin in just a moment, but I will say that the whole idea of mutuals and cooperatives is something that actually got a lot of momentum 15 years ago at the start of the coalition government. There's a lot of people saying, is this something that could be the manifestation of the big society, that could be spread across? And of course, I guess if you're talking about pubs as social institutions which serve the community, there's a case for saying maybe the people that work there should, as you say, Chris, have a vested interest in the day-to-day running of the pub. Chris's question, Oisin, is do you have any experience with this as a business model? Can you see a future in pubs being managed in this way?

**Oisín Rogers** (3:19)
First of all, thanks, Chris. I know the welly in Shoreham and I'm going to take him up on the offer of a public interest in live music to echo what Amol said, condolences on the loss of Rob, a titan of the industry, a top man.
How did you know?

**Amol Rajan** (3:34)
I'm sorry, I didn't even-

**Oisín Rogers** (3:35)
Of course, yeah. I found a dark star, top, top geyser.

**Amol Rajan** (3:38)
Oh, wow.

**Oisín Rogers** (3:39)
I think the greatest pubs are all weirdly owned by the regulars and stakeholders, people have a bit of them in their heart.
I like to think that about ours, that the people who walk in and come in every day should have a funny type of ownership and association and be recognized by us. I think to take that to a higher level where you have a community who actually has a chunk of it in terms of ownership and direction is a really good way to maintain its timelessness and sustainability. So Chris, I wish you the very best to look with that, and I think it's a fabulous idea.