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How things have changed at the pub. James Wilmore charts the trends in attractions down at the local over 30 years.In 1975 the sight of someone...

How things have changed at the pub. James Wilmore charts the trends in attractions down at the local over 30 years.

In 1975 the sight of someone standing next to a piano in a pub singing their heart out was not that uncommon. At least that's what I'm told by some of the elder statesmen at The Publican. Personally, the only evidence I have of this is an episode of Only Fools and Horses when Uncle Albert is at the old joanna giving it some to the Nag's Head regulars.

Of course, in some pubs this still goes on, but in the majority things have moved on. Things are a lot more sophisticated. Live music is still thriving, but added to this now is live televised sport, karaoke, comedy and advances in jukeboxes.

This explosion of entertainment has been forced because of the competition pubs now face. The massive rise in the number of chain coffee shops on the high street, such as Starbucks and Costa, has hit pubs, coupled with the growth of nightclubs and bars.

And not only this. The advances in home entertainment, such as DVDs, computer games and the internet, have kept people away from their local.

New ways to pull in the customer

As a result licensees have been forced to find other ways of pulling in customers. No longer are the majority of pubs smoky drinking dens, where the only entertainment is some old boy drunkenly recounting sorry tales of yesteryear.

Televised sport is now hugely popular, with Sky, much to the dismay of many licensees, being the dominant force. Big screens have also revolutionised the way pubs are able to screen sport. No longer are customers forced to crane their necks to catch a piece of the action.

However, this year's Publican Market Report showed that pubs' passion for sport has declined. Compared to the previous year when 22 per cent of respondents showed games at least weekly, the figure is now down to 17 per cent. And only 16 per cent of venues screen sport daily.

As for recorded music, this remains as popular as ever. In the Market Report, 34 per cent of respondents said they still had a jukebox - although it's a fair bet that the majority of these are no longer the old-fashioned Wurlitzer type.

Entering the digital age

Digital internet-linked machines are now available, some of them offering an amazing two million tracks. So what's been lost in the aesthetic stakes has been improved on in the amount of choice.

One of the companies pioneering these systems is Inspired Broadcast Networks, which has been running its system "The Music" since January 2004 and is now in more than 1,500 pubs.

"It's been a huge success," says managing director Norman Crowley. "If you look at pubs years before, there was a very limited choice now people have a selection of every track ever released in the UK. It has revolutionised jukeboxes for pubs."

The music renaissance

One area that licensees also appear to be capitalising on again is live music. Not since the heyday of punk and its DIY ethic has this form of music been so popular.

A MORI poll conducted last year found that 44 per cent of pubs had hosted live music events over the previous 12 months. Customer demand was the main reason given for hosting live music - 55 per cent - while other reasons included to increase custom and sales (34 per cent) and profit (20 per cent). Now with the second coming of Britpop more and more people seem to be picking up a guitar and getting out there onto the big stage.

It may not be in as many pubs as in days gone by, but the number of gigs taking place is still considerable. "Some people will claim that it's not the same as it used to be, but you have to look between the lines," says Keith Ames of the Musicians Union. "A hell of a lot of gigs are not listed and an enormous amount are not advertised. There's still very much a market for live music."

Tony Brookes, managing director of pubco Head of Steam, which operates four music outlets, has also noticed a resurgence in interest in live music. "There was a dip in the 1990s when various venues closed down," he says. "But now there's more and more pubs starting to put on live music and the scene is very vibrant.

"I think live music will grow as the pub trade becomes more difficult to make a profit in."

This could make sense with the new licensing laws due to come in on November 24. It allows pubs to include entertainment in its operating schedule and do away with pricey public entertainment licences, bringing it all under the umbrella of the new premises licence.

Feargal Sharkey, chairman at the Live Music Forum and former lead singer of post-punk band The Undertones, has also witnessed a renaissance recently. "Live music is getting bigger and bigger," he explains. "It's good family fun. In Leeds, for example, though a few key venues have disappeared, there's now five or six that are regularly hosting music - which is encouraging. To me it's the one thing that will keep going long after the CD is dead."

As such, Feargal argues that live music can be a lucrative venture for licensees and is definitely worth pursuing. "The days of sticky carpets in smoky venues are long dead and it's a good thing too," he says.

Karaoke comes of age

When it comes to drinkers taking the mike themselves, it seems karaoke remains as popular as when it first arrived from Japan in the mid-1980s. In the latest Market Report 18 per cent of licensees said they hosted karaoke.

Live comedy is also thriving in many pubs. The public's thirst for stand-up appears not have diminished since the rise of alternative comedy in the 1980s, when acts such as Alexi Sayle and Jo Brand were on the circuit.

Famous comedy venue the Kings's Head in Crouch End is one shining example where nights are regularly sold out and top acts frequently appear. Licensee Luigi Gambron explains: "The place is full every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and more people seem interested in comedy."

Thirty years from now entertainment could look very different in pubs. Hopefully, punters will still come to the pub to enjoy a bit of old-fashioned social interaction, but we could all be walking around with our own microchips, listening to and watching the latest images and sounds.

There's only one thing that's a definite - somebody somewhere will still be at home watching a repeat of Only Fools and Horses...

The way we were in 1975

So what were people listening to back in 1975? "Scaramouche, Scaramouche will you do the fandango? Thunderbolt and lightning - very very frightening..."

That should give you a clue - yes, it was Bohemian Rhapsody by the mighty Queen.

The song is one of the biggest number ones of all time and according to royalties-collecting company Phonographic Performance Ltd, this was the most listened to song of the year, followed by the Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel classic Make Me Smile (Come up and See Me).

See below to find out what else was popular the year The Publican first saw light of day...

The Top 10 most requested tracks in 1975