tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post5925974128411432848..comments2024-03-28T17:11:52.333+00:00Comments on The Pub Curmudgeon: A farewell to pubsCurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-36254794881004399162009-07-23T09:28:01.614+01:002009-07-23T09:28:01.614+01:00Have to agree with your analysis-except the magic ...Have to agree with your analysis-except the magic bullet bit, I imagine:)<br /><br />There has been a lot of nonsense talked about this issue and unfortunately a lot of attention has gone on what constitutes a closure. The bottom line is that more and more pubs are closing. And the vast majority do not reopen. It is a ridiculous statement to suggest that they do and that is only crap pubs that are being affected. Why am I not surprised that we never see any facts to back such a glib statement up? We can debate why these pubs are shutting-which they are, but let’s not bury our heads in the sand.Sat In A Pubhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08123038980796000837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-79460225939070054222009-07-22T19:47:06.956+01:002009-07-22T19:47:06.956+01:00While Raedwald's comments are somewhat romanti...While Raedwald's comments are somewhat romanticised they certainly strike a chord with my experience of pub exploring as a youth.<br /><br />I have no problem with modern, trendy bars so long as they offer decent beer and actually have somewhere to sit. I think of places like Brigantes and Pivo in York and some of the bars in Chorlton. I certainly don't narrowly define a pub as a dark, nicotine-stained place populated by old blokes playing doms.<br /><br />But arguably bars of that kind are even more of a niche than "traditional" pubs, and very much an urban, middle-class phenomenon. The on-trade as a whole is suffering, it's not that people are deserting pubs for trendy bars. If that was the magic bullet plenty of folks would have fired it by now. <br /><br />In fact, in my experience, those pubs that have tried to "go trendy" have shot themselves in the foot.Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-43107419890299655752009-07-22T16:55:42.808+01:002009-07-22T16:55:42.808+01:00@Tandleman. Bob on, I enjoyed Raedwalds blog, but ...@Tandleman. Bob on, I enjoyed Raedwalds blog, but he was speaking of a world that in my view doesn't exist and of pubs I suspect might not ever have existed. Rose tinted specs. Witless? It's my aim. Realist and lacking in romance? Oh yes.<br /><br />@Curmudgeon, heh, call me cooking. I think for your definition of what consitutes a pub you are correct, because by meeting customer expectation they would no longer in your view be proper pubs. How's about that for saying you are both wrong and right?Cooking Lagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02830924433230427226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-39658982074297923182009-07-22T15:58:47.344+01:002009-07-22T15:58:47.344+01:00Mr Lager,
I think it's pretty self-evident th...Mr Lager,<br /><br />I think it's pretty self-evident that the decline in the pub trade is overwhelmingly due to a variety of social changes that are largely outside the control of pub operators. Except perhaps in a very limited and localised way there is no "magic bullet" that pubs could adopt to reclaim the lost customers. There are a wide variety of styles and types of pubs, meeting all kinds of customer demands, and pubs in general are much cleaner, more comfortable and more welcoming than they were in 1977 when they were doing over twice the business. Diverse, fragmented markets tend to be quite good at working out what it is that customers want. It may well be true to say that a particular pub is prospering by doing x and y, but that doesn't mean to say lots more pubs in the same area would prosper and thus drive up the overall level of trade by doing the same.<br /><br />Oh hang on, there is a magic bullet that might make some difference… The one the government won't allow them to use…Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-68118210295700923052009-07-22T15:53:22.705+01:002009-07-22T15:53:22.705+01:00The escellent piece by Raedwald is unfortunately o...The escellent piece by Raedwald is unfortunately only a reminder to generations such as mine. I rather fear, as evidenced by the witlessness of some bloggers (as well as younger people at large) that the pub holds no sacred place in society for them.<br /><br />Frankly, they don't know what they are missing.Tandlemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06804499573827044693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-58424035734314562232009-07-22T14:28:03.862+01:002009-07-22T14:28:03.862+01:00Is the market just shrinking or are large parts of...Is the market just shrinking or are large parts of it just not meeting demand?<br /><br />thought this worth a read<br /><br />http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8162943.stmCooking Lagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02830924433230427226noreply@blogger.com