HAPPY New Year. Right, that's the annual pleasantries out of the way. Back to the vitriol.

They've gone and shut The Fleece in Richmond. Where will theatregoers go now for a pre-show cocktail pitcher and dance amongst the broken glass? A pub so good the carpet doesn't want you to leave.

Some, the local police for example, might well say "good", but there's sure to be a few young people miffed that their late-night revelling plans have been upset. Taxi to Club Louis it is. Free entry before midnight at "Catterick Garrison's best kept secret", the website says, despite a signpost pointing the way from nearby Scotton Road.

Back in 2010, I did a story on Louis launching a weekly lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender cabaret night featuring County Durham cabaret drag queen whose first name is Tess. Tickle Your Fancy, they called it. It's good to see it's still going strong.

Despite the demise of The Fleece and the Richmond Hotel, a few years ago, Richmond still has a noteworthy number of pubs – there's almost enough for each hairdressers' shop to have its own local.

I asked Fleece pub company owners Stonegate, who also own the Yates's and Slug and Lettuce brands if you're interested, what had gone wrong and what plans they had for the magnificent building, but they just said "The pub is shut".

"That's not good enough – I demand to know the truth," I thought about replying, but didn't, as I've got December's Leyburn Town Council minutes to type up.

Changes are afoot elsewhere in the hospitality industry. People say – I'm sure someone did, or if they didn't, they should – that every pub in the Dales is for sale at the right price.

The landlord of the Green Dragon, in Hardraw, is planning to go and live on an island as he's sick of film stars washing their wobbly bits in his waterfall.

The pub could be yours for £675,000 – a snip compared to Tan Hill, which was put on the market for offers around £1.1 million.

Fortunately, pubs and everything else survived the earthquake early this week when the only thing left shaking was the D&S journalist who called an unnamed local councillor for a comment at 10.30 at night.