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Lots of pubs near me have closed and are boarded up, a few i ride past have about 3 customers inside, is the public house a failed institution,due to smoking bans, drink driving laws or just the cost of a pint, or are people just anti social and spend nights chatting to strangers on the internet.
Discuss.
I do. Just got home after a couple of beers and reading before dinner and the place was packed.
Price of a pint is getting daft innit.
Yep - me. I go to the village pub once a week and 2-3 times when on holiday. It's a haven.
I go as often as I ever have.
Maybe once or twice a week for a few drinks.
And its never quiet when I'm in there.
I do, and I'll be there tomorrow night. I'd be there Saturday night too, but I'll be seeing Katzenjammer in Bristol instead.
Sadly, the beautiful Lauren won't be there to serve me, but I guess I can survive a week... 😀
In the pub now.... Bad day at work, price of a glass of red and a pint £8, too much to do regularly
^^^^ it's the price of wine that kills it in a lot of places - a pint of their own ale is under £3 (with camra discount) in my local brew pub (which is usually packed btw)
After many (many) years of visiting the pub after work it has sadly become financially unjustifiable more than once or maybe at a push twice a week.... and to think I remember complaining that lager (yes soft southern !) had reached £1 a pint, if only !!. Fortunately the Man cave is now almost fully equipped... though sadly Mrs Lc sent the barmaid packing 😉
I have '2' locals (*gf lives and I live seperately during week, so alternate weekends at each house - and we go down most weekends at hers(better pub) and some at mine and, and also the hockey club go to mine after the game at 10pm on Thu)
I think a 'good' pub is a true social amenity and yes without a shadow of a doubt it's a hard time for them. (And I guess good varies per person)
I'd like to see something to encourage 'social facility/inclusive pubs', as a basic maybe intelligent vat/tax, on open alcohol sales - do something to help pubs, on closed alcohol sales - do something to control minimum pricing, so at least pub price is nearer supermarket and yes I know that falls down badly in the throbbing, 14-25 packed, standup then lie in gutter bars.
Of course I go to the pub what kind of a man do you think I am..?
My local is a micro brewery of distinction, many awards, uses local hops and ingredients. He produces 5 beers and 1 special depending on the season.
Damn
Fine
Beer.
He's a kitchen to produce the finest of fare, menu consists of sausage and chips or egg and chips for the veggies ( like us) of the world.
Also during a ride out a couple of years ago I stumbled upon another micro brewery of distinction, they have a link to some other micro brewery over Somerset way, 12 beers from the barrel.
Most
Excellent
Beer'idge.
I hate chains, hate larga, hate frothy bitter called John Smarts or something like.
Of course I go to the pub, once a week,mind, not every night you understand.
Just back from an award winning pub in Newcastle and it was packed.
Two or three times a week at the waverly for a few pints of best.
Occasional pub lunch, the odd nice summery day will walk down the hill and have a few in the beer garden. That's about it. Don't regularly go out anymore, when I do go out it's normally town centre so more likely to be bars than pubs.
Yes. I don't really drink at home.
Looking forward to a few at my local before picking up Chinese food from there tomorrow night. I really hope ours keeps going as there will be nothing but a shop and church left if it does go!
When in the UK yes. Great pubs great places to be. Price of beer has gone up so has everything else.
Now in Oz not as much beer at $8-9 /pint (4.50-6 depending on how you take the exchange rate) is harsh but pubs are still busy. The main reason is that we live on top of a big hill which makes the walk home very unpleasant.
Love the pub, don't frequent our local one as often as we used to purely because of the cost, but our MTB club shirt is sponsored by a pub and the local brewery too!.. Most of our rides finish there and it's like a HQ for us all to catch up and have a giggle.. It's on the front of the Good Beer Guide this year and best of all it only serves drinks so no tables exclusively for diners just refreshing post ride giddyness 😆
When on holiday, yes. At home, virtually never. Most of the ones near me are mediocre at best, plus I drink mainly wine now - must be an age thing.
yep went to my local one for lunch, was excellent and pretty busy but then it's got a Michelin Star.
Yes. in one right now.
I go out semi-regularly with a mate or two, like maybe once a month now. It's mostly time constraints that stop us from going more often really, (proper) beer is still about £2.40/pint here, so we can sink half a dozen pints each and have enough left out of a twenty for a pizza to munch on the way home. Not too shabby really.
Yeah, I go reasonably regularly. There is a couple of brew pubs within 15 mins walk that I go to and there are a good few in Brum that I go to when in town as well.
I like a good pub, but they have to be good, not just serve your plastic, mass produced muck.
Love my local in south Brizzle. Always six guest ales on.
Yup least once a week when I can but Mrs is out tonight so grab a few takeaway bottles on the way past earlier, they're for tomorrow though.
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it's the price of wine that kills it in a lot of places - a pint of their own ale is under £3 (with camra discount) in my local brew pub (which is usually packed btw)
I'm not sure when paying 3 quid for a pint became considered good value for money. I'm in danger of sounding old but I remember buying my first pint of bitter in a pub and it costing under a pound (in the NE of England in the very early 90s)
I go to the pub for a drink, but not as often as I'd like to really. Not through financial reasons, just struggle to find the time.
Our local has 4 guest ales & an excellent restaurant. Quite like going in every now & again on my own with a good book.
I remember buying my first pint of bitter in a pub and it costing under a pound (in the NE of England in the very early 90s)
IN-FLA-TION
and tax rises back then petrol cost 60p/l
however drinking wine in pubs needs looking at - DRINK BEER
Once or twice a week. Used to be more regular, especially when my (now) wife worked behind the bar. The evenings when I drank more than she took home were fun/embarassing.
It has also tailed off a little as our local-local (end of the road) doesn't allow dogs, so I have to walk to the 10-minute-local with the pup, which makes nipping back to put dinner on between rounds a hassle...
ive not visited the locals near our new house yet (thats 8 months in ...) not had time due to DIY coupled with the fact that when i drive by theres always trouble/police car outside one of them.
our old house had at 2 great pubs we would go to often.
When on holiday we often visit pubs as especially if they do food as generally on the whole we can usually get a good feed out of it as oppose to going to mega corp chain and getting a medeocore feed.
*by pub i dont mean a weatherspoons - thats just a supermarket with glasses
I'm not sure when paying 3 quid for a pint became considered good value for money
Beer is like petrol - most people will not consume less regardless of the rising price.
Also, try telling someone they should stop their smoking or drinking 'habit' - they'll generally react like you've just vomitted all over their children and accused them of being a paedo.
We regularly nip down to one of our decent local boozers in the evening. We're lucky enough to have a micro-brewery within a quick stroll, and another pub that does top notch food. Both are always really busy!
The nearest pub to us is dying on its arse though. As its had a temporary manager in there who's a right miserable sod, and clearly doesn't give a toss! The beer's rubbish!
So everyone has voted with their feet, and just stopped going in. There's a new proper landlord and landlady moved in this week, so we're going to pop in tonight and check it out. If a round of drinks for 2 of us is going to cost £7-8 a pop, I want to go somewhere who actually give a ****! So does everyone else, I imagine. Hence a lot of boarded up pubs
Yes, 2-3 times a week. Last night I had some work stuff to read so I stopped in at the pub for a pint of locally brewed beer. Have a pint and pub lunch most weekends.
As an aside it was reported today that the average pint includes £1 in tax and duty costs.
Spring and Autumn ...
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Yep. My local is thriving*, which is great to see!
*Not solely on my contributions to their coffers, I might add!
I am not interested to go to the PUB. I don't like drinking.
meh
pubs are ok but i only visit now and again since the wee-uns came along dont get much chance
the 2 nearest pubs by me are full of very unhealthy looking old men who quite frankly should probably drink a lot less
also a fight in a pub nearby end in a murder
what im trying to say is i think we have too many pubs anyway
let the shit ones fail
the nice ones can stay
Nopes, i don't. I have a lovely country pub at the end of the road. It could hold about 200 people.... it generally gets 4-6 people in per night. It closed due to bankrupcy not long ago.... it will soon be closing again i'd expect.
Go there 3-4 times a year on a Friday after work when sunny and have a beer in the garden while my boy plays.
The pubs that tend to close tend to be the ones that are utterly depressing/on their way anyway for the main. A sweeping generalisation maybe but the ones I've seen shut always seemed to be the most depressive/half-empty etc before the smoking ban etc.
You'll ALWAYS want to drink somewhere where there is a good vibe regardless of the price.
FWIW my locals used to be the Kirkstyle and the Bitter End in Cockermouth. 2 great pubs get out of the cities and get out of the south 🙂
Usually pop in for a quick pint or two when walking the dog - she loves the pork scratchings and is partial to a drop of Doom Bar.
Blimey! You sound like a right laugh, some of you lot! Some right little rays of sunshine 😀
Isn't it the law that all rides, particularly night rides, end at the pub for a couple of scoops? Especially this time of year while you warm up? It certainly is as far as we're concerned. Thankfully
I am not interested to go to the PUB. I don't like drinking.
Lies!
1) You can't not like drinking, you need to drink water to live. and there must be somethign you like drinking, milk, orange juice, beer?
2) If you dont like the taste of Beer, then you're unlucky
3) You meant 'getting drunk' not 'drinking'
I like the taste of beer. Getting midly inebriated with on a sunny summer afternoon or a cold winter's day infront of a fire after a ride is a plesent side effect.
I go every Thursday mid ride.
As a group we support pubs that are good for us.
Last night we had two huge platters of sausage, chips and bread and butter.
We stayed 2 hours and spent £130 😳
Another pub we frequent gave us a loyalty card giving 10% back. This Christmas we will have £200 to spend! They also give us cheesy chips!
Its nice to be popular!
[i]Just back from an award winning pub in Newcastle and it was packed. [/i]
Which one, out of interest?
Not as much as in my 20s when I was part of the furniture five evenings M-F and then most of the weekend.
Only have the occasional social pint now but do go pretty often as a family thing. We have some nice country pubs down this way so good food and drink is often sought. Can just about put up with the price of a pint but the cost of wine pi55es me right off.
Isn't it the law that all rides, particularly night rides, end at the pub for a couple of scoops? Especially this time of year while you warm up? It certainly is as far as we're concerned. Thankfully
Only if you could teach that lewis hamilton a thing or two about driving, show that alex ferguson how to manage a football team and are a better rider than that lance armstrong and you don't take drugs.
Sitting in a pub not talking crap should illegal.
And talking work punishable by death.
Abso-bloody-lutely. And another bloody thing....... Don't get me bloody started about.....
😉
And another bloody thing....... Don't get me bloody started about.....
..this time of year, bloody office parties, one big night out a year and no idea how to behave in pubs
Oh dear God, NO! Spare us from amateur Christmas drinkers. You can usually spot them, to avoid, by the dead giveaway sign - the bottle of Budweiser in hand 😉
I go to the pub after our weekly night ride. Which, this week, happens to be tonight. I have one pint and ride home. My mate does the same. We both have a pint of Peroni and the round costs £8.20. And this is in a non-glitzy, small town pub. I couldn't afford to go to the pub for a proper piss up!
I couldn't afford to go to the pub for a proper piss up!
From observations of the boozers near work, it seems you have to be unemployed for that 😉
Work XMas Parties should be banyed. 😈
I'm happy that a resurgence of Micro Brewers has made it's way back into the Eng-er-land'shires. About time that happened what with all that garbidge coming out of Burton - on - Trent..
Actively seek them out we do whether walking or riding.
Though have to say, in That London even though there are a few Micro's we go to, in the main it's the chain pubs that seem to be full.. Must be something to do with Genes you are born with.
ChrisHeath - Member
Just back from an award winning pub in Newcastle and it was packed.Which one, out of interest?
Bacchus
Bacchus
Been there! Ace beer, friendly staff and food was good too. Would recommend to anyone happening to be in Newcastle and thirsty.
I'm lucky to have 6 good real-ale type pubs within walking distance from home, so normally get out at least once a week. Added bonus at this time of year is that most of them have real fires!
RM.
One of the few decent things about living in derby is that we are blessed with many local micro brewers knocking out great beer, and there are some good pubs to drink them at. I love a proper booze, decent beer and i love being 'in beer'. I tend to get out for a decent session about once a fortnight, and usually once a month will pop to my mates in London where we will spend a day ambling around a fine selection of boozer.
Oh dear God, NO! Spare us from amateur Christmas drinkers. You can usually spot them, to avoid, by the dead giveaway sign - the bottle of Budweiser in hand
Avoid pubs that sell that pish. Simples! 🙂
Though have to say, in That London even though there are a few Micro's we go to, in the main it's the chain pubs that seem to be full.. Must be something to do with [s]Genes you are born with.[/s] the part of town you're in.
Both of my locals are nicely full and sell proper beer. Neither is a chain pub (Unless you count them owning two or three pubs each, all with the same ethos. Both pubs have expanded over the last couple of years, as a direct result of being GOOD pubs!)
Unless something intervenes, with my best friends every Friday between 7:30-10pm in The Hunter's Lodge in Priddy, for a couple of pints of local beer or cider, a faggot or some chilli, to blow off steam, and to half-heartedly play a couple of board games. I hate missing it!
My local was pretty full last night, only just managed to get a table. Good pubs don't close down, if you build it they will come etc, and I can't buy cask real ale in small enough quantities or drink it quickly enough to justify stocking it in my fridge!
I tend to go to my local constitutional club where there is a vast array of beers, and a pint of Pardoes Bumblehole will set me back £2.02.
had six after a soaking wet morning ride a while back and fell down the stairs in the garden with my wife and kids looking bemused at the window.....
pint of Pardoes Bumblehole will set me back £2.02
That's really good! I'm paying £3.20 for ale and £2.70 for cider, and I thought that was pretty inexpensive.
Pubs, anyone still go to one to drink alcohol
Yes
Yes
Local pubs cover all requirements and are frequented.
Sunday evening quiet drink alone reading, kids in bed, Mrs watching Downton Abbey.
Sunday afternoon meal with the family
Saturday night with mates
My local,at the end of the road, is a shit hole tbh, but I still go there most weekends, mostly because Keith ( owner ) let's me run a tab LOL. Dread to think what I've spent in there, but it's pretty much always a riot. Took the girl I'm seeing there the other night, you should have seen the look on her face!! Might have to find somewhere else to go. But I'd miss Evie the mad cat lady, Shaun the taxi cab driver who's only got one eye, and mike who actually lives there as far as I can tell!!
Pubs, anyone still go to one to drink alcohol
Yes, often.
Emsz, is this your local?
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😉
My local is a gem of a place (The Star & Dove in Bristol, the owners have just taken a second place on too) - it's about more than the drinking, it's a social thing too. Seeing people, chatting to strangers, banter/abuse with the landlord, that whole interacting thing that seems to have been lost since the internet became such a big thing.
Back in the day when men were men, we'd go to the pub with our mates, bang the world to rights etc. Now it's just attention seeking Vaguebooking instead with those terrible posts like "Don't know why I bother", blatantly posted in the hope of 600 replies like "oh no babes, hope you are ok" etc like some teenage girls.
A good pub is so much more than just a place to drink.
Just got back from one 🙂
Bacchus
Ah, right. Great pub. :o)
Emsz - is this your local...
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[/img] 😀
I've just had a nice long, pie and beer based lunch in the pub. Very nice it was too. Pubs are ace! 😀
Binners, I thought about that, but then the image of Sheridan Smith crept in to my mind instead...!
😉
15 mile to the nearest pub from my house
🙁
i would love to have a nice little pub nearby and i would probably go once or twice a week
Fri - 4 pints at an end of Summer beer festival in town
Mon - 2 pints of Rebellion Smuggler with Mark Beaumont in my local 8)
Tues - hashing night so 1 pint of John Smiths at some pub near Slough
Thurs - 2 pints of Rebellion IPA at my mates local
Fairly average week apart from the company on Monday 🙂 mind you I did baulk at one round of two pints & two packets of crisps coming to £9 😯
Went to Coniston in the camper van a fortnight ago and went into town for a few...
1st Pub:
Pint of Lager and a 125ml glass of Rose...£7.05
2nd round Same but 175ml Glass of Rose £8.05
2nd Pub:
Pint of some German lager and a 175ml glass of Rose and a small pack of Kp Nuts ....£9.85 !!!!
So 25 quid for 3 drinks each...to much I say.....
Bottle of Rose and 3 bottles of Peroni from the Coop £11 quid.....should have stayed in.....
i was in my favourite pub the grove last night, today is not going very well as a consequence.
Asking Brian to recommend us good bottle conditioned beers was an awesome idea, but £10 for a 750ml bottle of Marble Earl Grey IPA nearly caused this tightfisted yorkshireman a heart attack
btw the beer was amazing and worth the tenner, i'd highly recommend it
I go about once every couple of weeks. The decent pubs/bars in Harrogate are busy. The ones with 30 yr old furniture and look like sets from Last of the Summer Wine are deserted.
Some company bought our local pub with plans to turn it into a residential home instead. There was outrage at how someone could do this.
Until somepone pointed out actually nobody bothered their fat lazy asses to walk the 20 feet to it and actually drink in it, so it was actually financially unviable.
So its now a residential home...
good god I loved my local pub with all of my heart.. It was the centre of my universe for many years before mrs yunki and the kids came along..
we've moved away now though, and the kids haven't really given me ample opportunity to sample the village inn yet
The old local was thriving last time I visited
breatheeasy - Will these be the very same people who loudly moan about Tesco's destroying the local independent shops. But, when questioned, can't remember ever having used any of the local independent shops, as they generally go to Tesco's? 🙄
My local is 3min walk and just too damn good. Makes it hard not to frequent on a daily basis, but I do my best 😆
Ha ha LOL
God it's not that bad, it's just a normal pub, but a bit run down really, you know, flowery carpets none of the chairs match, it's just the decor is a bit tired, the locals are a bit "special" though 🙂