-
The local is dead…long live the local
10
May 15th, 2010Comment, Pubs & barsTonight I went to 3 pubs I’ve never been to before. I’ve lived near them all for over 3 years, but tonight was the first time I’d ventured over their thresholds.
I’ve long believed that much more than the smoking ban has caused the British local to wither to it’s current state. I’m right as well, I know it. I don’t doubt the smoking ban has exasperated problems that some pubs faced, but there are many more issues that have led to bars, clubs and people’s living rooms beating pubs to share of wallet.
Tonight is a micro example, a tiny embodiment of how things have changed yet not changed in Britain. I will write about this another time and in greater detail, but to summarise my thoughts, the demise of British pub is finite, it’s a numbers game and it won’t end in extinction, merely a change of nomenclature and form.
The first pub we visited tonight, I will never go back to. It was rubbish. They promote local music and serve local people, which should be applauded, but it smelt and the music was shite (it may keep me up all night, up all night…) The band played Van Halen and Bon Jovi badly.
The second pub looked twice as good from the outside. It was lively: impromptu darts and possibly impromptu karaoke thrived. There was a nice lounge but a decrepit bar. The bar staff were downright ignorant. We felt completely unwelcome. Newcomers? How dare they come in here and spend money.
The third was the liveliest of the establishments, with a full on disco visible only when you hit the front porch. Remarkably, it was the most amendiable to conversation. Perhaps we’d just warmed up, lubricated with two pints previously. Or perhaps signs of human life simply woke us up. And possibly the bar staff, who were all remarkably attractive.
On a less positive note, midway through our first pint of cooking lager, my good friend was told “I’d nut you, but I can’t be arsed.” We drank two pints each there and chatted enthusiastically between us. Apparently that’s enough to piss off some of the twats that live in this country.
If you think I’m being snobby, at one point police officers were called to quell the increasingly tense mood. Just prior to this, 6 chaps had left the pub in a particularly argumentative moment, and only 3 came back. I can only presume the other three left with broken pride if not broken noses.
The British pub is alive and well in many places. Despite probably 1/3 of pubs around my area being boarded up, the ones that aren’t are doing a fine trade. There’s little in the way of cask ale, there’s little in the way of customer service, but the people love and hold dearly these locals that are their preference over heading into the city centre.
These locals won’t die out soon, but they will diminish in numbers. And the reason? They are bloody horrible places to go to. Increasingly they will serve a smaller audience, and, unfortunately, where better pubs could historically do well, the image of worse pubs will mean that the public house is an inferior alternative to the modern living room.
Tags: Local, pub
7 responses to “The local is dead…long live the local” 
-
It would be interesting to repeat the exercise on Sunday lunchtime or Tuesday evening and see what the welcome and level of trade were like then.
You’ll get a medal from Cookie for admitting to drinking lout, though
(Quote)[Reply]
FletchtheMonkey Reply:
May 16th, 2010 at 3:05 pmJust for you Curmudgeon, I’ll carry out the necessary research! Cross your fingers for me though… (Quote)
[Reply]
-
This echoes my experience of ignoring my instincts and going into the kind pubs with flyblown, frosted windows, shabby paintwork and sticky carpets. There are two near my house which I visited with my Dad (I’d be too scared otherwise) and they lived up to expectations: in one, we were warned off winning the pub quiz in case things ‘got nasty’ and another, although not at all dangerous, was so depressing I had to go to bed for the rest of the afternoon. (Quote)
[Reply]
-
Lanesy May 18th, 2010 at 17:26
To expand on Fletchthemonkey’s article (I was one of the bunch out that night), the strange thing about our local town is that it is fairly large and has a good number of pubs; they’re just all crap!
Sadly, it seems that the abundance of pubs in the city centre is often the way to gain any affection for a ‘local’. (Quote)
[Reply]
-
I know exactly what you mean, had a very similar experience myself last Xmas. The missus and I decided to visit a few of the string of pubs round the corner from our place that we’d never gotten round to visiting before. The first two were almost empty, despite it being a Friday in between Xmas and New Year and had either lager or Guinness to choose from.
The next one, a Holt’s pub, was livelier and had their basic bitter / mild / lager options, but the mild was… best forgotten. We could have gone on to Holt’s flagship pub down the road, where we knew they’d at least serve Holt’s Black and their seasonal cask ale, but by that point we were too dispirited and headed home to catch up on some telly.
There are another two or three places up the road that by all accounts are exactly the same as the first two. Honestly, if just one of them started stocking a decent range ale they’d probably make a killing, but they’re all just sat there, doing exactly the same as each other… sad, really. (Quote)
[Reply]
-
FletchtheMonkey May 21st, 2010 at 08:22
I often wonder how much the average local drinker cares about the beer? Up here a few locals sunk Tetley’s Bitter like it was water, but most were on Carling, Fosters or the hugely popular Becks Vier.
Keg and lager doesn’t need the TLC, cask does and can make or break a reputation. Many locals won’t touch pongy ale or go somewhere it’s on.
Seems that the busier pubs concentrate more on events – poker night, Friday disco, Rugby League matches and the like. Ale’s secondary to the social requirements often. (Quote)
[Reply]
-
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by SUGGS. SUGGS said: Is the local dead? – http://real-ale-reviews.com/the-local-is-dead-long-live-the-local/2010/05 [...] (Quote)
[Reply]
2 Trackbacks / Pingbacks
Leave a reply
The author
Name: Mark
Web Site: http://twitter.com/fletchthemonkey
Bio: Mark is better known as @fletchthemonkey and started writing about beer in 2009. Mark is editor of Real Ale Reviews and blogs at beeralewhatever.co.uk. When not content with spending all day on the internet working for a digital marketing agency, Mark waxes lyrical at digitalmediamonkey.co.uk and types up match reports for Leeds Guide magazine.
Donate to the East Africa Crisis
M&S Wine Club
Curmudgeon May 15th, 2010 at 09:14