Exactly Jaqui.C. The small pubs are not proffitable enough. The large breweries are interested in money, the more people you can pack into a pub, the more money they will spend, the small country pub is there to serve the community, not to make lots of dosh.
As for drink driving killing the village pub, if there were more 'local pubs' there would be fewer drunken drivers on the road. It's the breweries who have killed the country pub.