Since opening eighteen years ago the “Cardiff Bus Sports & Social Club” best known as the “Transport Club” has progressively lost engagement with the community. Classical socialising seems to have taken a backseat

with the rise of modern communication. The younger generation are not predominantly interested

in the majority of activities offered by old school local pubs. The increase in pub beer prices over the years have also encouraged people to drink at home rather than go out.

 

However, drinking in your neighbourhood pub has proven to be beneficial to the formation of healthy bonds within a community. Professor Robin Dunbar of the University of Oxford’s Experimental Psychology Department, said: “Frequenting a local pub can directly affect people’s social network size and how engaged they are with their local community, which in turn can affect how satisfied they are in life”.

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What you see is an illusion: the club is quiet now on a regular basis. The scarcity is replaced with a performative distillation of a once thriving watering hole. The sense of belonging remains at the heart of this club for its frequenting members, who continue to give life to a now waning lifestyle. 

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This work also includes sound recordings made at the pub.