The Pub Curmudgeon

July saw the fifteenth anniversary of this blog, which of course was originally sparked by the smoking ban. Sad to report that I have achiev...

This time last year, pubs had been spared the Covid restrictions that had been reimposed on large sections of the economy due to concerns ab...

A significant development of the past few years that has perhaps not received the attention it deserves is the rise of franchise models for ...

A couple of months ago, I wrote about how the unintended consequence of banning displays of “HFSS” foods in supermarkets had been a mushroom...

Regular readers will know that I’m an enthusiastic user of Twitter. In recent weeks, there has been a mixture of excitement and consternatio...

The Scottish government must be disappointed by the effect of the raft of anti-alcohol measures they have already introduced, so they have d...

Next August, the Scottish Government will introduce a Deposit Return Scheme under which buyers of all glass and plastic bottles and cans us...

At the beginning of this year, Wetherspoon’s carried out a substantial revamp of their beer range, one of the major elements of which was de...

From the beginning of October, new regulations were introduced in England to restrict the display and promotion of HFSS foods (“high in fat...

I recently had a somewhat unedifying experience in one of my local Wetherspoon’s: Oh, I’ll try one of the beers in the Spoons real ale fest...

In recent years, we have seen many pubs and bars adopt much shorter opening hours than in the past, often opening at what may seem odd times...

Pete Brown has weighed in to the discussion about the future of cask by suggesting that one of the best ways of improving its perception is ...

Last week, I was taken aback to go into a Sam Smith’s pub and find that they had started accepting card payments. On everything too, not jus...

This week is Cask Beer Week and, as Roger Protz reports, the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) have launched a new initiative to promote...

It seems an age away now, but it’s only two weeks ago that we saw the installation of a new Prime Minister and with it the selection of a ne...