One of the familiar sights in our region's pubs is skittles. But could we be losing the game? JOHN MILLS, managing director of the Gaymer Cider Company, makers of Blackthorn cider, calls for South West pubs to join a campaign to 'Save Our Skittles'.

Skittles is a West Country sport in danger of extinction as skittle alleys up and down the region are starting to disappear.

Many traditional pubs and clubs have closed while establishments that have survived are converting their alleys into restaurant facilities.

The situation is so dire that Jeremy Browne, MP for Taunton, launched a "Save Our Skittles" Early Day Motion in Parliament.

The purpose was to highlight the problems facing the sport and try to rally support for skittles.

At Blackthorn cider, we're backing the campaign and hosting a "Save Our Skittles" evening with sporting heroes from the South West tomorrow.

The game of skittles is a celebration of the diversity of the West Country. As the game developed regionally, the rules, equipment and method of playing came to vary significantly, whether players were competing in Bristol, Somerset or in Wiltshire.

The same team that scores a magnificent total of 317 playing in Weston-super-Mare, may muster only a measly 144 points just 20 miles down the road in Bristol, due to the shape of the city's skittles, which are pin-thin.

Skittles is deeply embedded in the history and culture of the South West region. Many of the skittles leagues that still exist today started at about the time of World War II. The camaraderie that built up over World War II spilled over into the skittle alleys in the post-war period and has continued ever since.

Many leagues had their heyday in the Eighties and Nineties, when the social clubs of big industrial employers in the region spawned teams with names like the Engineers" and the Carpenters, which depicted their trade.

Large numbers of skittlers have had to quit the sport following the closure of these big businesses and their alleys. Over the past 10 years, entire divisions, some containing 16 teams, have been lost.

It is not all doom and gloom, though; there are areas such as Minehead where skittles is thriving. Minehead is bucking the trend and managing to keep its alleys open and attract teams of young players.

As one skittles secretary in the region puts it: "It is a long winter here and, without skittles, many clubs and pubs would not survive. The game is an important part of local trade."

Feasibly, skittles could be part of the answer to problems faced by pub landlords across the region. Pubs and clubs are at the heart of many communities, but they, too, are in danger.

Last year's bad summer, coupled with the introduction of the smoking ban, has hit many establishments hard. Cheap bulk deals on alcohol, like those seen in the major supermarkets over Christmas, are also severely damaging to trade.

Deals such as "buy three cases of beer for ?20" reduce the cost of a can of beer to as little as 37p. Compare this to a pint in your local for ?2.60-?2.85 and it is easy to see why landlords are now finding it difficult to compete.

A pub can no longer survive on booze alone and many see food as the answer to their problems. But not every business can pull off the gastropub trend and all pubs need to consider entertainment, such as skittles, to revive their fortunes and compete with at home entertainment, like games consoles, flat-screen televisions and home cinema systems.

Skittles is a social sport where you can meet and compete with friends as well as make some new ones. There are no boundaries, men and women compete together and separately, and all ages join in from 18 to 80 and beyond!

Skittles plays an important social role in the South West, by fostering a team and community spirit as well as a pride in competing and winning, which is why the Blackthorn British Skittles Championship remains so popular. But it also has an economic role and could help bring in some much-needed revenue for pubs.

It is an excellent way of building a loyal local trade and filling the pubs at times which are traditionally quiet.

If two teams use a pub alley on a Monday every week, landlords would have the pub's team of 15- plus players at home competing against an away team of 15 players. That is 30 extra people in the pub on a quiet night of the week, who are not just popping in for a quick half, but staying for most of the evening and probably buying a bite to eat at the same time.

So what needs to be done to "Save Our Skittles"? I think an education programme is needed to inform the pub trade that skittles can be a great revenue earner and for people to get involved by trying their hand at a game and joining a local team.

If we do this, then we will, collectively, be able to keep this West Country tradition alive for generations to come.