I blame the parents.

Incidentally of your list BBPA and the pubcos are one and the same - and THEY are in control of rents and wholesale pricing structure to the on trade. Supermarkets and government alike have little to do with the failure and churn rate of pubs - they just get accused because BBPA and their pubco paymasters don't want people looking at where their considerable lucre comes from - that would be too awkward to answer. THEY aren't failing - 'their' pubs are.