Pandemic vs the British Pub

I suspect for the most part it will just speed up the cull of establishments that were destined to fail. The reaction by many pubs to a changed market over the last decade has been nothing short of dismal, as each 'old boy' passes on they seem content to lose another customer and leave it at that. Maybe a market town in the Pennines is not a fair reflection of the industry as a whole but in my town of 14,000 there is only one pub I could recommend to a visitor

If owners weren't concerned that there average customer was over 65, nursed his bitter for an hour at a time and 'splashed out' on a packet of peanuts then maybe covid will give them the kick up the ass they needed.
 
The pub industry has been on the slide for a long long time now...
Traditional 'boozers' no longer visited at dinner times/on the way home from work...
Greedy chains pushing rents up (and this prices)
Even my (was) local real ale haunt taken over by a small chain, prices gone through roof and atmosphere ruined in the process...

Only really bother with a couple of real ale and food faves now...
£2.30/£3.00 a, pint for cracking beer and food along with a warm FREE welcome for an overnight stop...

Those will be the ones I'll continue to support when this, shizzle is over...

Wetherspoons can stick it where the sun don't shine after the treatment of their staff recently.
 
£3.50 a pint sounds like a real bargain to me. £4.50 is the lower end price for a cask ale around here. God knows what it costs in the tourist pubs in Old Portsmouth but they all have a mortgage broker at the door. No wonder 'Spoons is doing such good business. Has anyone stayed in one of their hotels?

Yes i have stayed in several and they were OK but like mistericeman and for the same reason I can't see me ever dashing to cross their threshold again.
 
The pub industry has been on the slide for a long long time now...
Traditional 'boozers' no longer visited at dinner times/on the way home from work...
Greedy chains pushing rents up (and this prices)
Even my (was) local real ale haunt taken over by a small chain, prices gone through roof and atmosphere ruined in the process...

Only really bother with a couple of real ale and food faves now...
£2.30/£3.00 a, pint for cracking beer and food along with a warm FREE welcome for an overnight stop...

Those will be the ones I'll continue to support when this, shizzle is over...

Wetherspoons can stick it where the sun don't shine after the treatment of their staff recently.

Whilst I agree with what you're saying, the four pubs which I use regularly actually are traditional boozers which are used at lunchtime and on the way home from work, but on the whole you are right.

The most offputting thing for me these days when visiting an unfamiliar pub is seeing the staff wearing uniforms. Usually if I see this, I turn around and walk out because I know what it's going to be like.
 
Whilst I agree with what you're saying, the four pubs which I use regularly actually are traditional boozers which are used at lunchtime and on the way home from work, but on the whole you are right.

The most offputting thing for me these days when visiting an unfamiliar pub is seeing the staff wearing uniforms. Usually if I see this, I turn around and walk out because I know what it's going to be like.

I could point you to more shut pubs/converted/flattened around me than there are open ones (outside of covid obviously)

Even in my local 'town' Stalybridge.... Nicknamed 'Staly'Vegas'
The traditional boozers are all gone and the gin Palace type places that made up the bulk of the town centre had shut or drastically reduced their hours...

Drinking habits have changed drastically with so many folks drinking cheap beer at home now rather than going out...
My fave real ale place (Stalybridge Station buffet bar) has been ruined by combination of corporate branding (uniforms etc) and being filled with idiots that can't handle their beer on the "Real ale trail"

I think what's happening is a temporal shift in terms of how pubs manage to survive....

Good beer
Good atmosphere
Good food
Good price

All seem to be becoming far more important than a, pub surviving purely on it being there....

Definitely some chaff being sorted from the wheat
 
I could point you to more shut pubs/converted/flattened around me than there are open ones (outside of covid obviously)

Even in my local 'town' Stalybridge.... Nicknamed 'Staly'Vegas'
The traditional boozers are all gone and the gin Palace type places that made up the bulk of the town centre had shut or drastically reduced their hours...

Drinking habits have changed drastically with so many folks drinking cheap beer at home now rather than going out...
My fave real ale place (Stalybridge Station buffet bar) has been ruined by combination of corporate branding (uniforms etc) and being filled with idiots that can't handle their beer on the "Real ale trail"

I think what's happening is a temporal shift in terms of how pubs manage to survive....

Good beer
Good atmosphere
Good food
Good price

All seem to be becoming far more important than a, pub surviving purely on it being there....

Definitely some chaff being sorted from the wheat

Again I agree with that. Unfortunately the idiots will just be displaced from the pubs that close into others which will go downhill, maybe not business wise but quality wise.

We are lucky in my main local. He does serve (very) good beer, it has a great atmosphere and his prices are second only to Wetherspoons. He does not serve food but doesn't mind if you get a takeaway delivered.

I think the difference is that he owns the pub rather than just manages it. He can (and does) have in who he likes, if he doesn't like the look of you you will not be getting served. It can be a rough pub in that there are some hard cases in there but they all know each other and there is rarely any trouble. It's not everybody's cup of tea - the landlord can be rude, obnoxious and downright miserable which puts many people off of drinking in there. Those of us that know him just laugh at it and take the pee out of him.

Many pubs have their quirks and I like that. It's possible that places like my local could become more like private clubs for members only, something which wouldn't bother me as long as I was a member.
 
We seem to have a lot of micro breweries with a pub attached. There is one at the bottom of the road that brews its ale in Southsea Castle, but can't sell it there. Some of the beers are weird flavours and cloudy. They sell them by the two thirds of a pint at £6/7. Needless to say they haven't seen me after the first time.
 
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Again I agree with that. Unfortunately the idiots will just be displaced from the pubs that close into others which will go downhill, maybe not business wise but quality wise.

We are lucky in my main local. He does serve (very) good beer, it has a great atmosphere and his prices are second only to Wetherspoons. He does not serve food but doesn't mind if you get a takeaway delivered.

I think the difference is that he owns the pub rather than just manages it. He can (and does) have in who he likes, if he doesn't like the look of you you will not be getting served. It can be a rough pub in that there are some hard cases in there but they all know each other and there is rarely any trouble. It's not everybody's cup of tea - the landlord can be rude, obnoxious and downright miserable which puts many people off of drinking in there. Those of us that know him just laugh at it and take the pee out of him.

Many pubs have their quirks and I like that. It's possible that places like my local could become more like private clubs for members only, something which wouldn't bother me as long as I was a member.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there with owned pubs..
Rather than greedy brewery owned ones/chains

I love the individuality that owned pubs have to primarily do as they like...
Serve beer they choose/brew on site
And allow certain characters to become part of the fabric...

A little part of me dies when I'm sat in a real ale pub and someone wanders in and orders a pint of lager OR timmy Taylors landlord etc.
I love to work my way across the pumps trying something different each time
 
One of our locals, during the first lockdown sold beer at £1 pint if you were buying a takeaway meal. He had several casks of real ale that would have gone to waste and said he just wanted to recoup the cost. He has continued with a takeaway menu when not in lockdown as he felt there were new customers who wouldn't go to the pub but liked decent food delivered. The hotel near us ran it's full menu and you could ring up a day ahead and order a meal to be delivered hot, or on the day if happy to heat it yourself. Also some foods which could be ordered on the day, at given times. We had a three course meal beautifully cooked , delivered at 6.30pm precisely, for Dave's birthday.
 
During lockdown our breweries got the local supermarkets to sell real ale in plastic two pint milk containers. It was a good idea to claw back something rather than pouring it all down the drain, but it’s wasn’t quite the same.

Never mind I‘ll be out for a few scoops of real ale down the pub tomorrow night, hope it lasts and hope you lot aren’t that far behind. Cheers 🍻
 
Shame to hear the Station, at Staleybridge had been ruined..
Happy memories of meeting my student son there.
Apart from the fine mild and the banter, you could spend fascinating hours looking at the pictures..
He's 48 now., Middle aged, responsible.
They've both changed, over the years.
 
Shame to hear the Station, at Staleybridge had been ruined..
Happy memories of meeting my student son there.
Apart from the fine mild and the banter, you could spend fascinating hours looking at the pictures..
He's 48 now., Middle aged, responsible.
They've both changed, over the years.

I suspect we all have (mind my other half reckons I'm regressing now lol)

The buffet bar all sort of came to a head a few years back when the new owners took over...
Nothing much changed at first Barring new staff (sadly the original landlady and barmaids who ruled with a rod of iron (albeit velvet wrapped)

Then it sort of developed a kind of fake patina and the prices went up along with them encouraging the ale trail types who then started turning up in fancy dress etc... And drunk beyond sense,
One group threw glass pint pots at a passing train so that was the end of people watching on the platform in summer unless your beer was, in a plastic pot...

I stopped calling in after that Barring taking the dog down on the odd Sunday morning to read the papers over a pint in the conservatory then lunch afterwards.

Don't bother at all now, prefer the Navigation at Bugsworth or the church Inn up at Upper mill or a couple of others in the peak district etc, who are all happy to take my money in exchange for some welcome mental distortion and fine substantial food.
 
My nephew took a pub on just before covid ,it was bought by the locals to save closure . The miners Warren. Lane sheffield
 
Don't bother at all now, prefer the Navigation at Bugsworth or the church Inn up at Upper mill or a couple of others in the peak district etc, who are all happy to take my money in exchange for some welcome mental distortion and fine substantial food.

I love the Navigation and will be calling in to see Roger and Jan as soon as this is all over.
 
Whilst I agree with what you're saying, the four pubs which I use regularly actually are traditional boozers which are used at lunchtime and on the way home from work, but on the whole you are right.

The most offputting thing for me these days when visiting an unfamiliar pub is seeing the staff wearing uniforms. Usually if I see this, I turn around and walk out because I know what it's going to be like.
You have been pi--ed as that was the police station. 😂 😂 😂
 

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