POP into your local supermarket and you can now buy a 20-pack of Stella Artois for less than £14.
With the average pub price of a pint now at £2.34, it's no wonder people are abandoning their local and staying at home instead.
And with this summer's smoking ban looming, could we see the end of the traditional pub?
While years ago most people had a local pub within walking distance of their house, most now have to get in the car to go for a drink - and many just won't bother.
The smaller, back-street pubs are finding it hard going. With competition from the pub chains such as Wetherspoons and family pub restaurants like Brewers Fayre, the traditional local is struggling to compete with their prices.
In fact, recent figures show 56 pubs a month are closing due to lack of trade.
It means landlords who do want to keep hold of their regulars are having to offer that little bit extra.
Business partners Peter Bayliss and Graham Gillespie took over The Red Lion in Broughton 18 months ago.
When they first took charge they said the pub was dead, but after a quick refurb and a new menu customers have flocked in.
The pub is quite unusual in that it has a core group of regulars from the village but it also brings people from further afield to eat in the restaurant.
Graham said: "The locals frequent the bar area and the games room and they tend to eat in the bar, while people come from all over the place to the restaurant.
"We are very friendly, it's not the sort of place where you walk in and you can hear the tumbleweed blowing through, but we also look after the locals."
Graham added: "We see some of the same faces every night - we've got a core of about 30 regulars. They have the same banter and drink the same beer every night.
"They all went to school together and now a lot of them work together. It's a very local community round here, you don't get the same kind of community spirit in Kettering pubs as you do here."
The pub serves as a meeting place for local community groups - the Broughton Ladies Book Club gets together every week and a junior motocross group from Wellingborough holds their meetings in the bar.
But in order to keep the till ringing while other pubs have closed, the restaurant has become the focus of the business with 60 per cent of takings coming from food.
Its menu is priced slightly higher than the chain pubs because it markets itself as more than just 'pub grub', but Graham says they would probably struggle if they were located near pubs such as the Trading Post or the Telford Lodge.
But he isn't worried about keeping the customers coming back.
He said: "The major supermarkets are now providing cheap beer, like a 24-pack for a tenner. That is destroying the little pubs and if we didn't have the restaurant we would suffer too.
"But pubs have been around for hundreds of years. People come here for a social life, not just for the drink."
The Cherry Tree pub in Kettering - the oldest pub in the town - was on the brink of closing earlier this month because it needed significant maintenance work.
The brewery Charles Wells had questioned whether it was worth spending the £20,000 needed on the pub, but when the landlord stepped up with £10,000 himself, the pub was saved.
It is pubs like The Cherry Tree that are most vulnerable, as 80 per cent of the pubs that have to fold are in town and city centres where competition is strong.
But its landlord Gary Heronsby-Smith said: "Not everyone wants to drink in a Wetherspoons pub. As far as traditional pubs go there are very few in Kettering town centre.
"Our regulars have been drinking here for 30 to 40 years. They all know each other and they come in for the particular beers we serve as well.
"If you take that away from them they'd have nowhere to drink. They were very upset when we said we were having to close for six weeks.
"There are lots of reasons why people keep coming here."
This week is Community Pubs Week, organised by the Campaign for Real Ale, and this year the campaign focuses on supporting your local pub.
It is CAMRA's figures that show 56 pubs a month are closing for good, while a further 1,300 close with an uncertain future.
CAMRA chief executive Mike Benner said: "These damning new figures prove why CAMRA's Community Pubs Week is so important.
"We can't allow ourselves to be in a situation where communities across the UK are without the amenity of a public house. At a time when more and more amenities are being lost it is time for licensees, residents and local authorities to make a stand."
He says often pubs are closed and demolished to make way for housing in town and city centres. There is a legal loophole that allows developers to demolish pubs without the need for planning permission and CAMRA is lobbying MPs to have this loophole closed.
The organisation also wants to see all new housing developments such as Priors Hall in Corby have a pub included in the plans.
Mr Benner added: "Pubs are a meeting point for friends, neighbours, local groups, charities and sports teams. There simply is nothing to replace a well run pub and yet they are being lost at this incredible rate.
"Throughout Community Pubs Week we would urge anyone who cares about the community to visit their local next week and do their part to ensure it has a future."

For more information about Community Pubs Week visit www.pubsweek.org