Never mind the quality, feel the width

In a recent post, Tandleman quite correctly says:

Choice is often good, but quality is always good. I’d rather have two beers in top nick, that ten in so-so condition. Poor quality beer has always been cask beer’s Achilles Heel. Pubs really do have to ensure that they always serve beer well, particularly as they struggle to lure customers in. Failure to do so really is both inexcusable and suicidal these days.

I have to say that I encounter more pints than I should, even in Good Beer Guide listed pubs, that, while not returnable as such, are just a bit flat, tired and lacklustre. And, as I’ve said before, for many people the risk that one in five pints is going to be dull and flabby is one they don’t think is worth taking. So I thought I’d do a bit of maths on pub turnover.

According to the BBPA statistics, there are about 2 million bulk barrels of cask beer sold in the UK each year. Let us assume that there are 50,000 pubs, and 60% of them sell cask beer. It doesn’t matter if those figures are a bit out, as the general point remains the same. That makes 67 barrels per pub per year, 369 pints a week, or 53 pints a day. It’s generally reckoned that you’ll struggle to keep cask beer in good condition beyond three days, so even if you get your beer in 9-gallon firkins, that means you can only have two beers on before quality begins to suffer. Beer is available in 4½-gallon pins, but they’re far from usual. It’s also the case that pubs typically do half their weekly business on Friday and Saturday nights, leaving only 185 pints for the rest of the week, or 37 a day. So it’s hardly surprising you often get a tired pint early doors on Tuesday evening.

Simple observation suggests that the typical pub selling cask beer has more than two beers on, and in recent years the number has tended to increase even as overall volumes have fallen. Many ordinary pubs now have five, six or seven different beers. Obviously there are some pubs that do have the turnover to keep a lot more beers in good nick, but the law of averages means that others won’t even have the turnover for two. Keeping beers on well above three days must be extremely commonplace.

So perhaps there needs to be more emphasis on quality rather than quantity for its own sake, and the automatic praising of a pub for “putting on another handpump” should be replaced by positive references to pubs that limit themselves to one or two well-chosen beers.

Bursting out of the bubble

Boak and Bailey recently posted about St Austell Brewery in Cornwall putting some of their stronger and more unusual ales in kegs, and speculated as to whether this might lead to more breweries introducing more lower-volume guest ales on keg, where by definition turnover isn’t the problem it is with cask. In theory, the idea has some merit but, as I said in the comments, I’m not convinced that in the general run of pubs the customer base who go for cask would be interested in “craft keg”, especially one produced by a family brewer rather than a micro. It would just be seen as another keg beer.

Historically, keg ales and lagers have been preferred by those who do not trust the variability of cask beer, and continue to account for over 80% of draught beer sold in pubs. That market, to my mind, is adequately catered for by the likes of Carling, Stella, Guinness and John Smith’s Smooth. As B&B say, “Overheard some chaps in the pub discussing this the other day: all in their fifties, and all said that bad pints in their twenties put them off for life, hence they were on Stella Artois.” Also see this post of mine from 2009. I can’t honestly see that craft keg will have any appeal to those who put great store by consistency.

I could be wrong, of course, but I just don’t see craft keg bursting out of the beer bubble at all. I’ve created a poll to ask people whether they think we will see any craft keg beers appearing in Wetherspoon’s – surely the definitive sign of a product having gone “mainstream”. And if it did go mainstream, there would be a lot of muttering about “the thin end of the wedge”.

I would have thought there was more scope for putting beers like Leffe and Innis & Gunn on keg which don’t have a direct cask equivalent.

Law goes up in smoke

I recently posted how there were concerns that the established restaurants of the “Curry Mile” in Rusholme were being squeezed out by a rise in shisha bars, many of which were apparently failing to comply with the smoking ban. Now the Manchester Evening News has carried out a special investigation and found that – Shock! Horror! – all fifteen of the bars visited were allowing smoking indoors.

Shabir Mughal, executive member of the Rusholme Traders Association, said: “These places each make up to £25,000 a week, so to them a £3,000 fine is pocket money, it’s just loose change.”

...Since 2002, 28 shisha bars have opened in Wilmslow Road alone. Mr Mughal said: “Most of the shisha bars let people smoke indoors.” Earlier this month, Manchester council launched a campaign against illegal shisha smoking in Rusholme’s bars.

Habibi Cafe, which was fined more than £4,000 just weeks ago for breaching the smoking ban, was full of people smoking indoors when we visited.

Coun Nigel Murphy, Manchester council’s executive member for the environment said: “We are aware that there are shisha cafes in Manchester whose owners regularly allow their customers to openly flout the law. We will continue to crack down on these offences and these people should realise they are breaking the law.

“Our present campaign is highlighting the health risks of smoking shisha, which many people are unaware of, but as well as this we will be enforcing the legislation which means that anyone caught smoking indoors will be liable for a £50 fine – while owners and managers who allow this to happen face much larger fines.”

...One of the cafes had a shisha pipe design on the door next to a non-smoking sign.

The owner was fined more than £2,700 earlier this year for breaching the smoking ban – yet last weekend the cafe was full of illegal shisha smokers.

The legal process to prosecute a business owner for breaching the smoking ban is lengthy, and the council faces difficulties if the ownership changes hands.

At a time of cutbacks and austerity, you often get the impression that councils place a greater priority on bullying their residents in ways like enforcing the smoking ban than on actually providing services to them. I reckon if it became widely known that, because of shortage of funds, any particular council was in effect not policing the ban, it would be dead in the water in that area within a few weeks. I’ve always tended to think that, in the end, it will disappear with a whimper rather than a bang. The best way to render a law ineffective is simply to ignore it en masse.

As described, for example, here, Greece has in theory a similar smoking ban to the UK, but in practice it is pretty much entirely ignored, and the Greek authorities are of course much further down the road to penury than we are, so are probably happy just to turn a blind eye.

Not in front of the children

The latest absurd outbreak of political correctness is that an organic bottle-conditioned beer produced by former F1 racing driver Jody Scheckter has been banned by the Portman Group because the label includes a child’s drawing, so the beer is alleged to “appeal to children”. I thought that “Challenge 75” was supposed to deal with the problem of underage purchases. Next they’ll be complaining about Badger ales featuring winsome animals.

Anyway, plain packaging for alcohol will resolve all these issues...

The discerning tramp

As promised here, I ran a poll on which strong “craft” beers people had drunk, the results of which are shown on the right. A good turnout of 103, and a surprisingly low proportion who had never tried any, although possibly some readers spotted a rather “beery” poll and moved on.

A narrow win for Duvel over Chimay, with Old Tom third and BrewDog, which has only been around for about three years, still recording over 50%. Of course all these are high-quality beers sipped in moderation by discerning consumers, and are never used as a fast lane to oblivion in the way of Special Brew. To be honest, apart perhaps from Duvel, it would be hard work to drink any of them rapidly.

Gone for a Burton(wood)

I was recently looking through my collection of old beer and pub leaflets and guidebooks, and came across a little book entitled The Pub Lover’s Pocket Guide, published in 1983, which was a fairly in-depth guide to all of the nearly 300 pubs owned by Burtonwood Brewery. Now, some defunct independent breweries are still clearly remembered with considerable affection, such as King & Barnes, Simpkiss or Yates & Jackson, but Burtonwood, despite being a substantial operation, never commanded the same loyalty. Even though it survived into the 2000s, and the plant is still going as a contract brewing operation, you might not realise it had ever existed.

In his 1986 book Local Brew, Mike Dunn credits the company with 290 tied houses. These were widely scattered across Lancashire, Cheshire and North Wales, with outposts in Shropshire, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire and a substantial cluster in Staffordshire south and east of Stoke-on-Trent. However, nowhere were they numerous enough to say “this is Burtonwood country”. Many were fairly unassuming pubs in inconspicuous locations, although they did have a few prime properties such as the Rake Hall at Stanney in Cheshire and the Manor Farm at Rainhill near St Helens. They also included historic pubs such as the Holly Bush at Salt in Staffordshire, the White Lion at Barthomley in South Cheshire and the Scotch Piper at Lydiate in South-West Lancs. They also owned the Royal Oak in Eccleshall which has recently been ably refurbished by Joules. In the late 70s and early 80s I often used to visit the Tiger’s Head at Norley, an attractive, comfortable country pub between Frodsham and Northwich.

They tended to avoid prominent sites in the centres of major towns and cities, although in central Manchester they did have the Bull’s Head opposite Piccadilly Station and the Union on Princess Street which became famous as a gay venue. In Stockport they had the distinctive two-level Ups and Downs on Wellington Road South, which I don’t think has been open at any time in the 27 years I have lived in the town, and remains as an eyesore to this day, and the long-closed Golden Lion on Hillgate which even when trading was basic and grotty. They also later acquired from Tetley’s the Gladstone/Bishop Blaize, a pub with a characterful unspoilt interior, but which was also allowed to become very run-down and is now closed too.

Possibly a key reason for the company’s lack of profile lay in its beers, a standard mild and bitter which Mike Dunn says “have no great reputation”. They weren’t bad beers, just undistinguished, in the same way as Hyde’s regular beers are (in my view) today. You wouldn’t actively avoid them, but few would go out of their way to find them. They also later introduced a cask version of their Top Hat premium keg bitter but this, while stronger, I wouldn’t say was particularly distinctive either. In the early 80s Burtonwood also gained unwanted publicity through some of their pubs selling keg beers through handpumps.

In the early 1980s they fought and lost a takeover battle with Marston’s for Border Brewery in Wrexham, and Mike Dunn describes them as an ambitious company, but after this they seemed to lose their way and fall into a corporate torpor. There was a steady drip-drip of pub closures and disposals, and the pubs that remained began to look tired and lacking investment. They certainly weren’t actively buying new pubs as some of their competitors were. In 1998 they entered into a bizarre joint venture with Eldridge Pope of Dorchester called the Thomas Hardy Brewing Company. This seemed to usher in a protracted saga of mismanagement, resulting in the Dorchester brewery closing in 2003 and what remained of the Burtonwood pub estate being sold to Marston’s in 2005. Some of their pubs, such as the Bull’s Head mentioned above, are now doing well in Marston’s ownership.

The Burtonwood beer brands disappeared, but the brewery continued in operation doing contract brewing, producing, for example, Webster’s Yorkshire Bitter. According to the 2013 Good Beer Guide, it is still going today, although no longer producing any cask beer. But the substantial family brewing and pub-owning concern of which it was once a core part has now become no more than a fading memory.

Steady decline continues

Today the BBPA have published their latest Quarterly Beer Barometer figures. While their press release concentrates on the quarterly figures, showing an overall 4.8% decline in beer volumes, these were somewhat distorted by an untypical rebound in the third quarter of last year. In reality, the annualised figures are a better guide, showing an overall 3.2% decline, split between 3.6% in the on-trade, and 2.8% in the off-trade.

This is representative of a long, steady decline rather than a catastrophic fall, and is much better than the 5% plus falls recorded in 2008 and 2009, but even so it must be remembered that a 3.2% annual drop will halve overall volumes in fifteen years. On-trade sales are 26% below 2007, and 37% below 2002, so it’s hardly surprising that so many pubs have closed. The off-trade is now 94% of the on-trade, so the inevitable tipping point can’t be too far away.

Despite the negative impact on jobs, and on VAT and duty receipts, it remains a racing certainty that the government will ignore all the petitioning and campaigning and continue to apply the duty escalator in the next budget. Or, as minimum pricing seems to have been kicked back until at least 2014, they may even ratchet it up a bit more.

Drinking in the shadow economy

The latest report from Chris Snowdon looks like essential reading:

The Treasury is losing as much as £1.2 billion every year to the illegal alcohol industry. A new report, Drinking in the Shadow Economy, demonstrates how illicit alcohol consumption is becoming a permanent and growing problem due to excessive taxation.

Failing to deal with counterfeit and smuggled alcohol threatens not only public cash, but public health and public order. Counterfeit alcohol can contain potentially life threatening levels of dangerous chemicals, whilst alcohol smuggling is linked to other illegal activities such as drug dealing, violence and money-laundering. High taxes are encouraging the growth of the illicit alcohol market

It is evident that high taxes are causing this boom in the illicit alcohol market. As prices rise, consumers are increasingly turning to the more affordable options available in the shadow economy. Government policy might intend to improve people’s health, but it may be having the opposite effect.

A growing divide

Following the, er, lively debate generated by my post about the exclusiveness of the “craft beer” movement, I set up a poll on people’s attitudes towards some of the most popular cask beers. I also included our local stalwart, Robinson’s Unicorn. The results are shown on the right.

Only three beers – Taylor’s Landlord, Fullers London Pride and (maybe surprisingly) Thwaites Wainwright got an overall positive score. All the rest got more votes for “dull” than “good”. Yet these are beers that are amongst the biggest-selling real ales in the country and also, in many cases, are top-selling premium bottled ales too.

It’s well-nigh unknown to see most of these promoted on beer blogs, or in the editorial of CAMRA publications. Is this not indicative of a growing divide between the views of the cognoscenti, and what the ordinary, but moderately discerning, punter, chooses to buy? By simply deciding to go for cask in the pub, or a PBA in Tesco, the customer is already making a statement that he wishes to distinguish himself from the herd drinking Carling or John Smith’s Extra Smooth.

And the PBA sector is not directly championed at all by CAMRA (except in the sense that most of the beers have cask equivalents) and also, except in its more esoteric manifestations, rarely features on beer blogs either. Yet this is one of the fastest-growing segments of the beer market. Where do customers get the information as to what to buy, and what to avoid? Certainly not from any self-declared beer enthusiasts. I’ve more than once heard PBAs referred to as “real ales”, which indicates there is a widespread perception that they are the take-home equivalent of cask beers in the pub.

There are also a growing number of successful cask micro-breweries that have achieved wide distribution without any significant championing from the enthusiast community, Otter being a good example. Good branding and sales practices must be important factors, but isn’t another brewing an accessible range of ales in the classic British tradition that are never going to steal the show, but equally reliably deliver what they promise?

Festival fever

In the past, CAMRA seemed to have a monopoly on beer festivals but, more recently, they seem to have been springing up all over the place, run by pubs and a variety of independent organisations. In one sense this has to be seen as a good thing in widening the appreciation of beer. But, on the other hand, isn’t it a further symptom of beer drinking increasingly being seen as a “special occasion” activity rather than a regular part of everyday life? And I know some people for whom beer festivals have largely replaced routine pubgoing.

It used to be thought that attending a beer festival would have a wider effect in informing people’s choice of beer in their local pub. But, more and more, it has become an end in itself. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were people who happily jugged back craft ales at the Stockport beer festival, but in their Robbies’ local continued drinking Carling or Guinness.

Buy one, get none free

In the latest step on the long march to Prohibition, the government have announced that they are going to ban discounts for multiple purchases of alcoholic drinks. The article describes this in the context of wine, but of course it will also affect all those 4 for £6 offers on premium bottled ales, and 3 for £20 on slabs of Carling.

This is presented as a way of reducing overall consumption, as it is argued that these offers encourage people to buy and drink more than they otherwise would have. But surely, for most people, it is simply a case of buying in advance in a planned and cost-effective way. And it marks a move away from simply targeting identifiable “problem drinkers” to ordinary, responsible members of society who just happen to drink a bit more than the absurdly low and scientifically groundless official guidelines.

It will also adversely affect the business of small independent brewers and winemakers, as you might well be tempted to make up a multibuy with an unfamiliar bottle, but if you have to pay full price for everything you are more likely to stick to the tried and trusted. And retailers won’t just sit back and do nothing – inevitably they will come up with different forms of promotion concentrating on varying single-product discounts.

A similar ban has been in force in Scotland for a year. There were initial reports of a substantial fall in sales, but that was probably mainly due to people stocking up before it came in. Can any Scottish readers comment on how retailers have responded to it a year down the line?

You might hope there would be something of a backlash against this from the Conservatives’ and LibDems’ natural supporters stocking up their car boots at Waitrose, but it is perennially disappointing how supinely people seem to take all this bullying nonsense. It seems they have been conned into thinking it is all for their own good, when in reality it represents a relentless erosion of their freedoms. Don’t expect the official opposition to do anything either – their response is more likely to be that the measures don’t go far enough.

And just wait for the divide-and-rule dupes saying that it will help pubs compete against supermarkets on a more level playing field.

Release your inner tramp

There were an impressive 131 responses to my survey on which high strength or “problem” drinks people had consumed, and some interesting results.

Carlsberg Special was, predictably, the winner, although with Gold Label a surprisingly strong second and Tennent’s Super third. Possibly many of the Gold Label responses came from memories of drinking it in nip bottles in pubs many years ago, when it was a stonking 10.5% ABV rather than the current watery 7.5%.

Buckfast Tonic Wine was last, although I don’t think it’s widely available outside Scotland. Just over a third had never tried any of them.

I suspect if the question had been “which have you drunk in the past year?” the positive numbers would have been far lower. However, it does show that “responsible drinkers” – which, of course, you all are – do at least occasionally toy with these products.

Maybe next I need to ask the same question about Old Tom, Duvel, Chimay and Hardcore IPA.

Social cleansing rebuffed

Last year I reported how celebrity chef Marco Pierre White had run into trouble with the locals in his attempt to take the Angel in Lavenham, Suffolk, upmarket.

Now it seems he’s encountered similar problems at the Rainbow in Cooksbridge, East Sussex, and has had to admit defeat.

As part of the relaunch the traditional pub was taken upmarket to look more like a dining room, with dark walls and tables with white tablecloths. It also had a “cosy bar” ripped out to make way for the dining tables.

The menu was changed to include dishes such as poussin à la chipolatas and pomme fondant, and the pub changed its name to Wheeler’s of St James’s at The Rainbow.

However locals were upset that the traditional pub atmosphere had disappeared.

After less than a year of trading the pub’s owners have now parted company with Pierre White and are turning the building back into a traditional pub.

Alf Turnbull, a 67-year-old drinker at the pub, said that locals wanted simple pub food.

“People do not want posh nosh just simple English pub food cooked to a decent standard.

"I could not pronounce half the things on Marco's menu let alone eat them,” said Mr Turnbull.

To be honest, anyone who does things like that to pubs should be strung up from a lamppost by a mob of angry yokels with torches and pitchforks. Only joking, folks...

You lookin’ at my bird?

When discussing the irritating behaviour of small children in pubs, the point is often made that adults, whether drunk or sober, can be far worse. While, in extremis, this is undoubtedly true, I have to say it is something that I seldom personally encounter.

While I freely admit that I am rarely to be found in pubs at the rougher end of the spectrum late at night, it is vanishingly rare that I see “bad” behaviour from adults. Maybe some overloud cheering from sports fans, or an old boy who’s had one too many attempting to croon a song, but never anything like running madly around the pub, jumping on and off seats or fighting. Adults, even if a bit inebriated, generally know how to control themselves. And any adult who decided to shout at the top of his voice for a prolonged period would be swiftly ejected.

Plus it must be years since I have personally been the target of insulting or threatening behaviour in pubs. Maybe this is more likely when you are of a broadly similar age to the perpetrators, and once you become identifiably just another middle-aged bloke you tend to blend into the background.

There but for the grace of God...

I can’t say the thought has never entered my mind:

Angry drinker poured half a pint of ale over 'grizzling' toddler because the noise disturbed his lunch

And, surprise surprise, it was in a branch of Spoons.

There’s quite a lot of sympathy in the comments, too.