STORY: The village pub is a cornerstone of life in the Czech countryside.

But now the much loved drinking dens are in peril like never before.

Many are being forced to close as costs soar and hard-up customers stay home.

Eva Vejvancicka runs one pub in the village of Myslovice.

She says even local government support isn’t a guarantee of survival:

"We have an advantage because the village authorities support us – we pay only one Crown rent. But we pay a lot for electricity, which went up in price a lot.”

In the village of Sec, the U Kryslu pub used to be bustling.

Now few customers are left.

With inflation at 16%, local mayor Helena Chytra says it’s hard for pubs to keep going:

"The lessees or keepers can’t survive the price rise of energy, beer and other goods and this stops people from visiting the pubs. That's why I think that in many villages and maybe even in ours the pub will cease to exist.”

Over the past three years around 12% of pubs in small Czech towns have closed.

That’s according to the brewer of the country’s famous Pilsner Urquell beer.

To help out, it’s offering grants to pubs, and consulting on how to improve menus and decor.

The program targets bars in smaller towns and villages.

And it aims to get Czechs back into the habit of going to the pub.