Most of the pubs are owned by the PubCos
Back in the past it was mostly brewery owned with 6 big brewers owning most of them.
So a law got passed in the 90s which limited the breweries to a max of 2k pubs.
Unfortunately what happened was we ended up with a bunch of very large Pubcos who were often linked to a particular brewery anyway (some were formed by former brewery execs and the pubs were "donated" in return for an agreement to keep buying from the brewery").
The Pubcos started with low rents but high stock prices but now go for both high rents and high stocks. Its why often see pubs changing hands frequently when someone tries the dream of pub landlordship but runs out of money.
Its why Wetherspoons is "cheap" since generally they convert buildings and so have a freehouse model.
Having used the UK rail service both public and private the "better service" is optimistic.
The too poor to afford a car is more associated with buses. You need to be rather fortunate to be poor and able to use the train to get to work. Maybe in London using the tube but working office hours it will be cheaper to buy a car or move.
I would suggest the main driver in the leap in passenger numbers isnt the far superior private sector offering but instead the massive leap in house prices forcing people to move out of London.
Unfortunately the "its rare" isnt true.
it is more common now than it was back in the horizon days.
It also isnt necessarily expensive since you can apply for costs with the default being for it to be paid (unless good reason not to). As such whilst its not an option for the average person who cant afford the upfront cost it is very practical for large businesses especially if they engage in it often and hence can stand up a department for it.
It is an actual example of a two tier justice system since those who can afford the private prosecution skip the queue for the public system but will still normally have the taxpayer pay for it.
There is currently a consultation underway as per below article which, incidentally, mentions a more recent dubious example of private prosecutions which got slapped down.
Historically it wasnt a bad thing since it was an add on to an existing shop.
The general idea being that I would come in to pick up my pension/tv licence or various other things the PO used to be the source for and then spend it in the other part of the shop.
