Here’s another trenchant article by David Atherton about the decline of the pub, and its causes:
Pub closures mean we’re losing the last of England. This comment is especially telling:
But the smoking ban was Labour’s idea, and they prosecuted it with a vigour that would make a Mormon knocking at your door asking about Jesus look apathetic. It was quite clear that the average Fabian, middle class Labour apparatchik never goes to the pub, or has the slightest level of empathy for working class people whose pleasure they killed. The contempt for their core vote is limitless.
It will be interesting to see whether that contempt is thrown back in their faces at the forthcoming Wythenshawe by-election.
The only way Labour would lose in Wythenshawe is if labour banned Pit Bull Terriers and stray cats.
ReplyDeleteA while ago Manchester University were doing a research program on
the remaining examples of the Neanderthal species,they had a field day in Wythenshawe,allthough they did come across some samples who could grunt more than 20 words.
"Working class protest about closed Pubs" I hope that is some sort of sick humour.
Dreamer
Is this another one of your trick questions? If they did lose, no doubt this would be hailed as some kind of proof of the disaffected masses. However, should they win-much more likely-the question will quickly be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteHi PC thanks so much for featuring my piece.
ReplyDeleteRegards
Dave
Every time I drive passed yet another boarded up pub I think to myself "there goes another publican who thought his business was selling beer". Every time I pass yet another Tesco Quickie or Sainsburys Knee Trembler I think 'Should have listened to Granddad B's sage advice and remembered that the clue is in the name: "it's called a public HOUSE"'.
ReplyDeleteGranddad B was a publican, and a very successful one at that. London pubs, Country Pubs. I recall as a mid-teen having chats with him about the pub trade (which I seemed destined to enter before I decided to join the priesthood).
The Publican who thinks his job is selling beer will go out of business. Off licences, breweries and Tescos sell beer. Publicans sell 'Gemuetlichkeit'. That German word doesn't really translate but in this context let's go with 'Comfort' or 'House-ness' (that's why it is called a "public HOUSE", Dipshit!).
The price of a pint in a pub is almost irrelevant - it has always been the most expensive way to drink beer. One has always been able to brew a better and cheaper pint at home.
You can have the best range of CAMRA Blessed Real Ales at rock bottom prices but if the 'comfort' is missing your pub will be emptier than a politicians promise. You can sell Cooking Lager with enough C02 to cause Global Warming at Strip Joint prices and your bar will be standing room only IF the 'comfort' is there.
Comfort means different things to different people. But a Smoke Free Pub is UNCOMFORTABLE to smokers. Simple fact is that smokers will buy more drinks and spend longer in a pub if they can smoke and be comfortable. Tell a smoker he mayn't smoke with his drink and he'll maybe come back for the odd pint but he'll sure as God Made Yeast not want to spend any significant amount of time or money in your gaff again.
We can only assume that you are being rhetorical in your final sentence - the entire LibLabCon edifice remains solely because the core voter CANNOT see the connect between their vote and the cretinous policies those they voted for churn out.
ReplyDeleteRadical Rodent
Of course the coalition's magnificent handling of the economy which is booming back after the disastrous years under Brown's control will ensure another Labour defeat at the next General Election.
ReplyDeleteThe good times are here once again,there's economic confidence in the air and Osbourne's successful tenure makes Ed Balls look like yesterday's man.
Likewise, those days when pubs reeked of tobacco smoke - how anyone could argue for a return to such pre-historic times is beyond me.
Ah yes, those pre-historic times when pubs were busy and thriving and there were lots more of them.
ReplyDeleteBlocked Dwarf hits the nail on the head. People don't go to the pub so much to drink as to socialise. And given that since the smoking ban, most socialising has to be done outside in the wind and the rain, it doesn't make for a very appealing prospect. Hence the lack of custom.
ReplyDeleteOf course the anti-smokers will blame pub closures on supermarket prices, the recession, the Pubcos and a plethora of other things, but in their heart of hearts they know it is because Publicans were compelled to throw out their best customers.
Yes, it was the smoking ban that destroyed that great British institution, The Pub. RIP.
I reckon the smokin' ban is the No1 issue in the minds of voters and nowt else is under consideration ;)
ReplyDeletePeople might think twice about voting for a party that has deliberately ripped the guts out of their local communities, though.
ReplyDeleteThe Labour Party - wrecking the economy and keeping the working class down since 1906
ReplyDeleteOld Contemptible
" If they did lose, no doubt this would be hailed as some kind of proof of the disaffected masses."
ReplyDeleteIf they DID lose, it definitely would be proof of disaffected masses. Wythenshawe is red donkey country.
It won't change the MP, and most of parliament are basically just stalling, making concerned noises and waiting for the big closures to stop (which they will eventually) at which point the problem goes away.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could say something more hopeful but that's the sad reality.