tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post8003340326328112598..comments2024-03-28T17:11:52.333+00:00Comments on The Pub Curmudgeon: Extending the repertoireCurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-43300219032255776862010-09-29T15:42:30.418+01:002010-09-29T15:42:30.418+01:00Indeed Greater Manchester is possibly above all ot...Indeed Greater Manchester is possibly above all others the area where cask beer remains something bought by ordinary drinkers in ordinary pubs.Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-76953431973142235502010-09-28T20:51:17.983+01:002010-09-28T20:51:17.983+01:00Traditional beer has been ruthlessly dragged upmar...Traditional beer has been ruthlessly dragged upmarket in the years since what Mudgie refers to as the "heyday of pubs". There are a number of reasons for it which I won't go into here, but I suspect that any hope of taking beer back to its roots - beer as in cask - is a forlorn one.Tandlemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06804499573827044693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-19331744135460097812010-09-28T17:24:56.885+01:002010-09-28T17:24:56.885+01:00It was well enough located enough for Morrison'...It was well enough located enough for Morrison's for many years; it was always full and its sales were excellent. Waitrose was just too expensive and was never busy, even at the weekend, whereas Morrison's had been so successful on the same site that it moved a few streets away to bigger premises.<br /><br />And I think it is relevant to the cask beer debate in this respect: charge too much, and people won't buy from you. With excessive tax rises, I'm afraid we can't have premium pricing of beer on top. Or have real ale drinkers been conned by the notion of a product being Reassuringly Expensive (à la Stella Artois)?Neville Grundyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10923209266005338452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-62047532404349262942010-09-28T16:56:56.835+01:002010-09-28T16:56:56.835+01:00@RedNev – up to a point I'm agreeing with you....@RedNev – up to a point I'm agreeing with you. It's dangerous to assume that association is causation. And to some extent the concentration of "beer enthusiasts" on the novel and unusual has encouraged cask beer to be seen as a more upmarket product.<br /><br />Quality may seem to be bleeding obvious, but it clearly isn't bleeding obvious to all the purveyors of cask beer who serve up warm, flat, hazy pints, so the point is still worth ramming home.<br /><br />Not really relevant to the cask beer debate, but AIUI Waitrose in Southport took over a former Morrisons or Safeway store that wasn't very well located. They still have a store down the road in Formby, and a growing number of others across the North.Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-44817690650570805302010-09-28T16:41:12.387+01:002010-09-28T16:41:12.387+01:00Put Pete's marketing genius is clear, RedNev. ...Put Pete's marketing genius is clear, RedNev. If you want people to drink more pong and view it as "top notch" you have to charge an arm and a leg for it.<br /><br />The old demand and supply theory of economics is sooooo last week.Cooking Lagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02830924433230427226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-28205384529838102222010-09-28T16:09:26.766+01:002010-09-28T16:09:26.766+01:00I don't see only middle class drinkers as the ...I don't see only middle class drinkers as the way to expand cask ale drinking, although it might be a convenient excuse to push up the prices. As for Waitrose, here in supposedly posh Southport, our Waitrose closed after a couple of years through lack of business, so things can be more complex than preconceptions may suggest.<br /><br />I do agree about quality, but isn't this - in the words of Basil Fawlty - "stating the bleeding obvious"? You might as well say the way forward for bakers is to sell fresh bread. But it provides a few more words for Mr Brown's article, and I believe journalists are sometimes paid by the number of words.Neville Grundyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10923209266005338452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-61546048742477587392010-09-28T15:44:16.701+01:002010-09-28T15:44:16.701+01:00Well, cheap supermarket lout is losing market shar...Well, cheap supermarket lout is losing market share to bottled pong as well :)Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-67270856142239935602010-09-28T15:25:07.634+01:002010-09-28T15:25:07.634+01:00Why on earth would you want to encourage occasiona...Why on earth would you want to encourage occasional pong drinkers to neck more pong? What good is that going to do them? More expensive pong at that.<br /><br />Sounds to me like you are encouraging fiscally irresponsible behaviour, for your own ends.<br /><br />Better to encourage them to neck lovely cheap wholesome supermarket lout.Cooking Lagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02830924433230427226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-80412227361825904942010-09-28T13:33:28.096+01:002010-09-28T13:33:28.096+01:00REAL bars catering for the Nouveau Riche and appar...REAL bars catering for the Nouveau Riche and apparatchniks, calmly<br />bowing their heads to central<br />diktats set against a backdrop of<br />boarded up lower class taverns<br /><br />Not my England ,Mudgie<br />Not my England.<br /><br />In my England ,each to his own,<br />his choice,his freedom,his liberty.<br /><br />Free ThinkerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com