The Pub Curmudgeon

It has been widely reported today that UK beer sales were 8.2% lower in the first quarter of 2009 than in the comparable period last year. ...

I have great respect for our independent cider producers, and from time to time I enjoy drinking their bottled products at home. I’ve also b...

I recently concluded a poll with the question “Which cask beer temperature do you come across more often?” There were 23 responses, of whom...

Despite intensive lobbying from many quarters, Alastair Darling did not flinch from his plan to increase alcohol duties by 2% above the rat...

The government’s latest consultation on improving road safety has revived the idea of introducing so-called “random breath testing” for mot...

There has been a lot of discussion in the local CAMRA branch recently about how moribund Stockport’s “night-time economy” is. It seems as th...

As if nobody had ever heard of a beer gut, the government are now launching a publicity campaign to inform people of the number of calories ...

A few months ago I wrote about Samuel Smiths’ committing culinary suicide by introducing a menu consisting overwhelmingly of stodgy microwa...

A recent article I linked to claimed that, following the smoking ban, pub owners had invested huge sums of money in providing outdoor facili...

I was interested to read that hand-rolling tobacco is seeing a resurgence in popularity . Not only is it cheaper than ready-mades, it also h...

1959 saw the opening of Britain’s first Motorway Service Area at Watford Gap on the M1. From the beginning, British service areas were not a...

The other day, I ordered a pint of Thwaites Bitter in a pub that for many years was a Good Beer Guide regular, although not in the current ...

Interesting video here made by Nigel Farage of UKIP for Channel 4 stressing the importance of saving the British pub: I’m well aware that Ni...

There’s a growing spate of cash-strapped pub companies selling off some of the crown jewels of their estates to independent family brewers. ...

Today, the ticker in the left-hand side bar recording the number of pubs closed in England since 1 July 2007 has reached the 3,000 mark. I’m...