Vested interest

The hot weather inevitably leads to parts of the human body being revealed that really should be kept under wraps. One common manifestation of this is men wearing vests. Now, I’m sure the men so attired feel it’s comfortably cooling and informal, but it can’t be said to convey a high-class image.

So I thought I would ask blog readers what they thought of this tendency, at least as it applies to pub customers. A significant majority – 64% - didn’t really approve, but only 21% actively wanted licensees to ban the practice. I’m sure the old–school landlords would never have tolerated it, or at least confined it to the public bar. What happened to all those pubs that pub guides of the past used to say insisted on “smart casual dress”?

I had in mind fat, sweaty blokes with hairy shoulders, so the visions of Greek gods conjured up by those who said they “liked a bit of eye candy” were rather wide of the mark.

And rest assured Mudgie will never appear in public wearing a vest – or shorts, for that matter. If he did, people would probably run screaming. Although yesterday I did see a man considerably older than myself wearing one in the pub. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

You may remember this poll I did a couple of years ago about what people thought were acceptable reasons for pub licensees to refuse customers access – although it didn’t include vests.