QHA-Review_April

INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT
with Damian Steele
THE SOCIAL AND HEALTH
BENEFITS OF YOUR LOCAL
QHA REVIEW | 42
Some may say I am biased or that it is an occupational
hazard, but I always thought that there was no better
place to be than in your local hotel.
As we emerge as a society and industry from COVIDlockdowns,
restricted travel and less face-to-face
meetings, I turn my mind back to some pre-COVID
research which resonates now more than ever,
confirming the psychological and social benefits of
having a ‘local’.
The research was conducted by Western Sydney
University, on behalf of Lion Beer Australia, and
expanded on a similar study conducted in the UK by
Oxford University Professor Robin Dunbar.
The research looked at the social and health benefits
of having a ‘local’ (particularly with respect to
moderate alcohol consumption). The result was a
robust academic report titled ‘Where Everyone Knows
Your Name: The social and psychological value of
having a local in Australia’.
Being social and interacting with others is a
fundamental feature of human life and there is a
growing body of scientific evidence to suggest
loneliness and isolation are major health problems.
Interpersonal interdependence is key to human survival
and evidence suggests that is a defining characteristic
of what motivates our lives. It relates to important
psychological outcomes like anxiety, depression,
jealousy, loneliness and self-esteem.
We are dependent on social contact, and we use
crutches like social media and television to substitute
for the real thing. Ironically, this increasing dependence
on technology means that actual human contact has
become rarer than at any point in history (and this was
before COVID-19 changed our lives). Hotels provide
a key outlet for many people to connect with other
people without an intermediating screen.
Professor Dunbar found that: ‘Pubs play a unique
role in offering a social environment to enjoy a drink
with friends in a responsible, supervised community
setting’. In addition, he wrote: ‘Our social networks
provide us with the single most important buffer
against mental and physical illness…pubs traditionally
have a role as a place for community socialising…
which promotes social bonding’.
The key findings of the research were as follows:
1. People who have a local are more trusting and
satisfied with life;
2. They also have broader friendship and support
networks, and identify more closely with their
community;
3. Most people who have a local say they use it for
socialising and drinking with other people. Only
six percent of people who identified as having a
local said they drank there alone;
4. Beer is the most commonly consumed beverage
for those who have a local;
5. Men and women appear to socialise in their local
in different ways, with men more likely to engage
in intimate conversations, composed of fewer
people, and women more likely to converse in
larger groups;
6. Those who lived in rural areas, who were light/
moderate drinkers, and had a local, had greater
mental health and less anxiety than those without
a local.
The impacts of COVID-lockdowns were far more
widespread than the direct economic impacts, and
the results of the research only re-enforce what we
have always known - the intangible value that a local
pub brings to a community. It explains why the ‘local’
has become an integral part of our culture and society,
particularly in rural Australia where community meeting
places are becoming fewer and fewer.
When it comes to issues that impact local hotels,
acknowledgement should be given to the broader role
they play in social connection for communities and
mental health, particularly in rural areas.