Unhappy patrons possibly disheartened pubs (6)

I believe the answer is:

booers

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'unhappy patrons' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'disheartened pubs' is the wordplay.
'disheartened' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (the middle or heart is removed).
'pubs' becomes 'boozers' (I've seen this before).
'boozers' with its middle taken out is 'BOOERS'.

'possibly' acts as a link.

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I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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