In the Tesco Metro or Express or whatever it is on Bow Road near where I used to live, there's a soi-disant COMMUNITY NOTICE BOARD just inside the door. Apart from a small map of the local area, it's completely empty.
I agree with luka's central point here, though I'm not sure how it would be best implemented in practice. It's become a cliché to say that pubs are a bit like secular churches in the role they play but I think the idea has something to it. The rate at which pubs are closing in Britain is a terrible tragedy. I can't bear the idea of these villages, or collections of houses that used to be villages, that have no pub, no shops, not even a post office any more, perhaps a church which at best has an old lady come round to put some flowers in it once a week, and a population that works or goes to school miles away and spends its evenings watching TV or fucking about on the internet.