I've not posted, over the last few days, as we've had a 3 day work related trip to the Bath area. We went through Staffordshire, Somerset, Hampshire etc and set the satnav to 'avoid motorways' as we weren't in any hurry. We went through dozens of picturesque villages with thatched cottages, village greens & duck ponds ...... beautiful! The tragedy is that the only pub has been 'aluminiumed' and taken the heart out of the village. The British pub was an institution second to none and we've thrown it all away ........... what on earth have we done?
Join Camra they run a campaign to save pubs. In Bristol pubs are being lost at an alarming rate. The city centre pubs are mainly safe but on the outskirts some areas have no pubs left at all. The main culprits pubcos charging exhorbitant rents to landlords and restricting what beers they can sell. In some cases they are deliberately running down the pub so it can be sold to turn into flats. In other cases they are converted into restaurants or supermarkets - Tescos being a major culprit. The local camra branch in Bristol has a pubs group and we have helped save a lot of pubs.
We were in Bristol on Saturday mate, the 'black area' if you're allowed to call it that. The pubs still open were full of 'lads' offering you drugs/stuff/outside .......... how the landlords cope is anyone's guess. The 'clients' weren't drinking much and intimidated anyone who ventured in. We insisted on sipping our pints despite the arseholes who treat the place like their own 'kingdom'. When we eventually found a decent place it was near the Clifton suspension bridge and was really hidden away. As we travel around we find that all the bid decent places have been 'Harvestered' and serving crap food with Polish waitresses. It really is a tragedy for British culture.
A lot of the good pubs in Bristol are a bit tucked away. Looks like you were in the St Paul's area - can be a little dodgy to say the least. If you are ever down this way again try the 7 stars and the cornubia - both proper pubs serving a wide variety of real ales and within 10 mins walking distance of train station. Bristol pub scene has improved markedly over the last few years - check out the good beer guide. My last visit to Sunderland was a few years ago but my favourite pub back then was Fitzgeralds - great beer in there.
Last time i was home i couldn't believe how much a pint was , nee the wonder they are dying. When i was in uni a pint at most bars in Durham was a quid maybe 1.25. Student union 65 p. Think i paid 2.75 for a pint in some **** pub in town, thats almost $5 a beer. For $5 a beer here im in a top notch steak house , or in a regular bar im getting 2 beers brought to my table inc a tip, and if i still smoked i could have one. Im ignorant really to the situation but i bet 50% + of the cost of a pint is tax.
Spot on! I dunno where I was but it wasn't England. I have to say there were some interesting parts of Bristol with some great architecture. We met some people in an area that was a little 'Bohemian' with lots of 'drama student' types ...... lots of carrot cake & micro brewery stuff.
Plenty of good boozers in and around Notts Smug! Lots of independent brewers and 3 pub chains with a few pubs each.
Bristol is a decent city just a shame the centre was destroyed during WW2. As you say there are some characters about down here. Hoping to get up to North East again soon. Last time I was up brought some friends from Bristol - went round York great place and great pubs. Stayed in the Victoria in Durham great pub and the landlord gave us a pint to take up to the room at the end of the night. Also stayed in a pub in Weardale great place next to Cauldron Snout.
It's decent here but a lot of decent pubs have gone. The best in Mansfield is the Brown Cow, they've risked a lot of money making the place authentic but modern with a great range of beers.
You are not wrong the tax on beer is appalling here - the beer duty escalator. The smoking ban didn't help either.
Don't think that has had much negative influence to be honest, and many pubs have excellent smoking areas anyway now. In my opinion the problem lies with with the stay at home culture that has been steadily taking hold for the past 20 years or so. Home entertainment seems to be the norm these days which in my opinion has so many social negatives.
Problem is the government and police are trying to stop pubs selling alcohol. I saw a stupid thing this morning on BBC breakfast TV about pubs having to breath test people before they are allowed in and if they are twice the drink drive limit they are to be turned away. Lets get it straight pubs sell booze, they are in the business of selling booze and if you take away their ability to sell booze they close. If someone really wants to do something about people getting too pissed and about pubs not making enough money to stay open they could stop supermarkets selling cheap alcohol. People don't get too pissed in the pub because its too expensive. They pre drink at home on supermarket ale then go out to the pub just to keep themselves topped up. Its sad really as good independant pubs cannot compete with supermarkets or the big chains.
The simple reason for the death of pubs is the smoking ban. People who like a drink like a tab. Being made to stand outside stops smokers from turning up and therefore they drink at home. Especially in bad weather. I was warned about this up Scotland on holiday by numerous pub managers, as they had the ban in place before us. They would apologise profusely when telling us to smoke outside and tell us their takings had halved since the ban. And they were sick of the sight of the non smokers sitting in their pubs with a glass of orange juice that lasted them hours. The law should be changed to give people choice. Managers should be allowed to have huge signs announcing that they run a smoking pub. I would bet my house on the smoking pubs being full. And in this nanny state you would have some anti smoking zealot applying for a job in a smoking pub and going to the European court of human rights to complain..
........................................................... Sorry mate but that is simply not true....Only 20% of the population smoke these days and I dare bet that the majority of the 80% of non smokers are delighted with the ban. The fact is that the pubs and clubs were in decline long before the smoking ban existed due to the stay at home entertainment society that has took hold in this nation of ours. Many pubs have excellent heated and covered smoking areas anyway these days, so not really an issue.
Every landlord I've spoken to blame the breweries for price hikes. Must be some truth in it, you can still get a cheep pint in a free house and they're never empty.
I agree, I am a non smoker, but I would have smoking back in my pub if it was legal, we would be full every weekend.
Problem is you still can't compete with the supermarkets on price. People would rather sit at home with smart price cider watching X factor, rather than come out and have a nice pint while watching a live band.
