Keeping it local, keeping it real

Last week’s poll was on whether people would continue to visit their favourite local pub if it stopped selling real ale. There wasn’t any specific prompt for this beyond one or two reports of some Sam Smith’s pubs doing this. I also avoided trying to give any context – it was up to you how you interpreted the question. Obviously respondents weren’t too keen on the idea, with only 19% saying “Just as much” or “A bit less”, but 34% saying “Only occasionally” and 35% determined to completely shun the place. The poll results and associated comments can be viewed here.

Clearly “your favourite local” can be interpreted in a variety of ways, from just one of several pubs in the area you sometimes visit, to the only pub in your village where you’re an active member of various quiz and sports teams. But, surely, if you identify it as such, rather than just “my nearest pub” or “a pub I quite like” then you must have some social capital invested in it, and to totally turn your back on it comes across as an exercise in cutting off your nose to spite your face. And, if you really can’t contemplate enjoying the occasional session in a pub or club without real ale, you’re rather missing the point. You’re a beer snob, not a pub lover.

As I’ve mentioned before, there are a few local Sam Smith’s pubs that I like going in, not specifically for the beer, but because they offer a proper pub atmosphere that few competitors can match. If they dropped cask Old Brewery Bitter, I’d probably go in a bit less. But I’d still enjoy them for the other aspects of the pub experience. But I might end up on the lager...