We need to save pubs, not for a myth of roaring fires and the welcoming light across a dark street, not for a lie about the heart of the community, but because the pub is where the good beer is found
I don't disagree with the main thrust of your argument — English pubs are dying out — but, while this may be true in smaller towns, it's far from true in Bristol where I live and, in Central London, Westminster and all the fancy suburbs, there's a pub on every corner.
There are about 100 pubs within a mile of Bristol Harbour and most of them are busy, with no sign of closing anytime soon. Nearly all sell cask ales on a hand pump as well as fizzy lagers. Most have plenty of women punters — only a few pubs are male-oriented — and they are all very social. I can nearly always find someone to talk to.
This is in the city centre though. It's a different story out in the working-class suburbs. Pubs are closing all the time there. Going to the pub is a middle-class thing now.
Even up in Clifton Village — the poshest part of Bristol — the ten or twelve pubs are full of posh people drinking beer every night. I love it. I especially love the fancy Belgian beers. I can't vouch for every village but my sister's lovely little village in Kent has two pubs, full of beer drinkers every night.
In all, I'd say the death knell for the English pub is premature. If you are looking for a pub filled with beer drinkers, come to Bristol.
It's one of only maybe 5 pubs in Bristol that don't allow dogs, and it's because of the cats. He had 18 cats at one time, and they are all wandering around the pub or lying on the bar.
It’s one of the original cat pubs before those were fashionable as cafes. Great selection of interesting beer and love the proper gas lighting of a winters evening!
The smoking ban killed off many Bingo halls too, but you hear even less about that than pubs as it was mainly working class women who played Bingo.
I have maltsters on both sides of the family. One who came up from the West, Wiltshire, to be one in Burton upon Trent. There was movement between Wiltshire and Burton due to barley grown in Wilts being taken to Burton I believe.
Why I wasted my time reading this lament to a male wishing to recreate the glory days of Empire, chain smoking & abandoning his galley slave wife while he skulls 6 pints of swill to prove he’s a man is beyond me.
This isn’t about pubs - it’s about a sad lonely male losing his masculinity.
Perhaps you should read it again. Enter into the spirit of what was written rather than what you wanted it to say. It doesn't mention empire or demand a return to lost times all it says is that the pub is where you get the best beer. And that this, not a myth about community, is why we should save them. But thanks for reading any how.
I don't disagree with the main thrust of your argument — English pubs are dying out — but, while this may be true in smaller towns, it's far from true in Bristol where I live and, in Central London, Westminster and all the fancy suburbs, there's a pub on every corner.
There are about 100 pubs within a mile of Bristol Harbour and most of them are busy, with no sign of closing anytime soon. Nearly all sell cask ales on a hand pump as well as fizzy lagers. Most have plenty of women punters — only a few pubs are male-oriented — and they are all very social. I can nearly always find someone to talk to.
This is in the city centre though. It's a different story out in the working-class suburbs. Pubs are closing all the time there. Going to the pub is a middle-class thing now.
Even up in Clifton Village — the poshest part of Bristol — the ten or twelve pubs are full of posh people drinking beer every night. I love it. I especially love the fancy Belgian beers. I can't vouch for every village but my sister's lovely little village in Kent has two pubs, full of beer drinkers every night.
In all, I'd say the death knell for the English pub is premature. If you are looking for a pub filled with beer drinkers, come to Bristol.
And when in Bristol I’d especially recommend the Bag of Nails at bottom of Jacob’s Wells Rd and the Cornubia off Victoria St
I live a few hundred yards from The Bag o' Nails, and I have been there often. Not too often though, because they don't allow dogs :-(
I love the Cornubia too.
By which you mean “don’t allow dogs” (in case readers are wondering it’s because the pub is full of cats)!
Right, sorry! Fixed.
It's one of only maybe 5 pubs in Bristol that don't allow dogs, and it's because of the cats. He had 18 cats at one time, and they are all wandering around the pub or lying on the bar.
It’s one of the original cat pubs before those were fashionable as cafes. Great selection of interesting beer and love the proper gas lighting of a winters evening!
The smoking ban killed off many Bingo halls too, but you hear even less about that than pubs as it was mainly working class women who played Bingo.
I have maltsters on both sides of the family. One who came up from the West, Wiltshire, to be one in Burton upon Trent. There was movement between Wiltshire and Burton due to barley grown in Wilts being taken to Burton I believe.
Why I wasted my time reading this lament to a male wishing to recreate the glory days of Empire, chain smoking & abandoning his galley slave wife while he skulls 6 pints of swill to prove he’s a man is beyond me.
This isn’t about pubs - it’s about a sad lonely male losing his masculinity.
Absolute dinosaur bile.
Perhaps you should read it again. Enter into the spirit of what was written rather than what you wanted it to say. It doesn't mention empire or demand a return to lost times all it says is that the pub is where you get the best beer. And that this, not a myth about community, is why we should save them. But thanks for reading any how.
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‘despite Britain having built a mighty economy and a huge empire’
If you can’t even remember what you write you’ve obviously drunk too much swill.
You offer nothing new to pub culture other than harking back to mythological misogynist times.
I love John Barleycorn and the story it tells. Did you know that versions of the song go back almost a thousand years? I wrote a little blog about it a little while ago. https://www.raggedclown.com/2009/09/11/john-barleycorn-must-die/