The pub as a habitual hub: Place attachment and the Regular customer

Abstract

This ethnographic study of an English village community explores the attachment that customers develop to the pubs they frequent to make sense of their experiences, especially those that are regular or habitual. The concept of place attachment provides an important framework when analysing the tripartite aspects of attitudinal, affective and behavioural engagement with the pubs they habituate. These elements of attachment are seen inseparable, contributing to our understanding of customer behaviour, whether regular and frequent or occasional and less predictable. The authors present hospitality as a phenomenon that helps individuals structure their expectations, behaviour and emotional ties to a place and suggest that analysis of hospitable places could extend to other stakeholders, including employees and other members of the community who engage with places in different ways.