The smoking ban, cheap booze available in supermarkets and changing fashions helped lead to an average 27 pubs closing every week in Britain last year.

And Sudbury is no different.

Just this year the Black Horse in East Street was put up for sale, The White Horse in North Street soon followed and the site of The Prince of Wales, in New Street, was earmarked for flats.

Nick and Anne Martin, landlords of the Whitehorse for the past 20 years decided to sell up this year.

They said the introduction of "oversized" pubs, combined with the smoking ban, was driving them out of the business.

Paramount Investments, which is selling The Black Horse on behalf of the owners, said the smoking ban, fears of a recession and last year's poor summer were all major factors.

Mark Greig, managing director of Paramount, said: "If no-one steps forward to buy the Black Horse it could cease to be a pub at all."

But the demise of the traditional boozer is not a modern phenomenon. One walk around the town takes in the sites of nearly a dozen former watering holes.

Premises now housing Marks & Spencer, Chinese restaurants and Winch & Blatch are among those that were pubs now faded into history with new businesses in their places.

Who can still remember drinking in The Spread Eagle, The Ship and Star or the Plough?

Based on the current rate of closures – released by the British Beer and Pub Association – the last pub in Britain will close in a little over 40 years.

But not everyone seems to be suffering.

Peter Mannering, duty manager at the Wetherspoon's-owned Grover and Allen, in North Street, Sudbury, said: "Our takings show that people are not drinking less and in fact, seem to prove the opposite.

"We had a bit of a honeymoon period as soon as we opened last summer and then it settled down a bit but this year has shown takings going up."

He said the pub was regularly "packed" and lunchtime trade was increasing.

But The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) says the Chancellor of the Exchequer's decision to increase beer duty in the last Budget will fuel even more pub closures, increase smuggling and boost sales of cheaper supermarket booze.

Mike Benner, chief executive of CAMRA, said the Government had failed to recognise that well-run community pubs were the solution to Britain's binge-drinking problem.

He said: "Increasing beer duty by four pence a pint will do nothing to stop binge-drinking, but will lead to pub closures on a huge scale, widen the gap between supermarket and pub prices and encourage smuggling and cross-border shopping," he said.

"It's a great big nail whacked ruthlessly into the coffin of the British pub."

Send us your memories of Sudbury's long-lost pubs. Which were the best? Where did you drink your first pint? Email jonathan.schofield@sudburytoday.co.uk or write to him at Free Press, Borehamgate, Sudbury, CO10 2EE.

Enter our Pubs of the Past competition to win a case of Mauldons beer. See separate story in this News section.