Regarding the land prices argument, I think there are a reasonable number of buildings which must be run as pubs and may not be e.g. converted to more lucrative

Regarding the land prices argument, I think there are a reasonable number of buildings which must be run as pubs and may not be e.g. converted to more lucrative uses. Though the local economy does influence the prices that must be paid for labour and the prices customers will be willing to pay. I expect you’re more likely to do well as a pub by having e.g. a wide rotating selection of beers rather than trying to compete with spoons on price. A separate issue may be rent. The pub in my parents’ village was owned and successfully run by some locals for a while until they wanted to retire and sold it to a large company. That company would then lease the pub to people who would either fail to do well (and cause the village to get fed up with the pub) or do well only to have the owning company turn around and try to increase rents (and offer those people no reasonable path by which they might come to own the pub themselves), driving them away by making the business unsustainable.