Is it time for British to become Publicans?

[mistermack]

I went out last night for a drink in Gloucester, (UK) and there was a band playing.
Good band, lightly blues oriented, attractive blonde girl singer with a good voice, and a lovely old building, at least 200 years old with REAL beams etc.

Not many there. The place should have been packed out.
All the best pubs are closing.

Why, and what can be done? Suggestions welcome.



My theory is the smoking ban and the drink-driving laws and tax on alcohol are to blame.

My solution is repeal the smoking ban for pubs, or allow smoking ROOMS, not outdoor areas.
And raise the alcohol limit to 55 instead of 35. And charge pubs less alcohol tax than supermarkets.
It's a way of life we're losing here.

[PsychoSerenity]

One of the pubs I sometimes go to with my house-mates is a proper old building, though it wasn't always a pub, - it has regular live music, serves mostly real ales and real ciders, - it's usually so packed that even with the £1 entrance fee that they have on a Friday and Saturday night, it's really difficult to get through to the bar-room to get your drinks, and you'd have to be there very early if you want to get a table for food or whatever. To be honest I prefer somewhere a bit quieter.

Maybe you've just got to go to the right place.

[mistermack]

One of the pubs I sometimes go to with my house-mates is a proper old building, though it wasn't always a pub, - it has regular live music, serves mostly real ales and real ciders, - it's usually so packed that even with the £1 entrance fee that they have on a Friday and Saturday night, it's really difficult to get through to the bar-room to get your drinks, and you'd have to be there very early if you want to get a table for food or whatever. To be honest I prefer somewhere a bit quieter.

Maybe you've just got to go to the right place.

What you describe is Gloucester twenty years ago.
It's now like a morgue at night. It might be that where you live is just living on borrowed time.

Ten miles away in Cheltenham, some of the pubs are still busy. But the trend is still downwards. Cheltenham used to be buzzing with night life.

Loads of pubs have closed in Gloucester, and many of the others look completely empty, as you drive past.

[Svartalf]

Publicans ? what kind, pub owner or tax gatherer?
Because the activities of the latter negatively impact the ability of the former to do business, especially at prices affordable to the prospective custom.
and what do you people expect? we're in the middle of a crisis, and your business model as a nation has condemned most of the population to a hand to mouth existence without the financial ability to afford much pub going... how do you expect the pubs to actually do business without a broad base of customers with extra funds available for spending on such leisure activities?

[mistermack]

Publicans ? what kind, pub owner or tax gatherer?
Because the activities of the latter negatively impact the ability of the former to do business, especially at prices affordable to the prospective custom.
and what do you people expect? we're in the middle of a crisis, and your business model as a nation has condemned most of the population to a hand to mouth existence without the financial ability to afford much pub going... how do you expect the pubs to actually do business without a broad base of customers with extra funds available for spending on such leisure activities?

I'm not with you there. Most people in this country still have their jobs.
The rise in the unemployment number is tiny in proportion to the overall population, and the size of the economy is virtually identical to what it was last year and the year before.

There are very few people who can't afford to drink "out".

I did omit to mention the growth in the internet, which relieves the boredom of staying at home.
I can't offer anything to counter-act that, but it's popularity might wane after a while.

[Svartalf]

Well, I would not relieve home boredom so much if I had more beer money.

[Horwood Beer-Master]

The problem is the pubs being undercut by the supermarkets on beer price. It's time the government realised that it's far better for people to be drinking in the relatively controlled environment of a pub than at home. And also that many of the people who do cause trouble in our high streets after visiting a pub, normally start out their night with drinks at home before they set out (this is also why banning consumption of alcohol on public transport is such a pointless idea - people are boarding the buses and trains drunk).

The government needs to stop trying to deal with drink related problems by putting blanket taxes on alcohol (that end up disproportionally hitting the pubs), and instead specifically target the alcohol pricing policies of supermarkets. Also they need to better regulate the relationship between breweries and their pub tenants, and adjust the planning laws to make it much harder to convert a pub to housing (or any other use).

Unfortunately this is all unlikely to happen due to the fact that this government (like New Labour before it) are full of the type of people who frequent posh dinner parties more than their local.

[Svartalf]

Lol... a can of Guinness in the market costs me about 1/3 of what a pint costs me in the bar... so if I'm in it only for the stout rather than for going out and company, I definitely gain by buying my brew for home consumption.
Though what do you mean that it's better to drink in a 'controlled environment'?

[Horwood Beer-Master]

Lol... a can of Guinness in the market costs me about 1/3 of what a pint costs me in the bar... so if I'm in it only for the stout rather than for going out and company, I definitely gain by buying my brew for home consumption.
Though what do you mean that it's better to drink in a 'controlled environment'?

The bar staff can refuse to serve you if you've plainly had enough. Also you're presumably with other people and the drinking isn't all about the drinking, whereas someone living by themselves who's bought a load of cheap booze down the shops might drink themselves into a stupour each evening - something they're less likely to do with company down the pub.

[MrJonno]

Aren't pubs these days just somewhere where you eat and just happen to get a beer at the same time?

[mistermack]

Aren't pubs these days just somewhere where you eat and just happen to get a beer at the same time?

Sounds like fun. Strangely enough though, I don't enjoy eating out, but I do like a drink in a pub. Especially if there's live music laid on.

Socially, it's chalk and cheese. In a pub, you rub shoulders and mix.
In a restaurant, you just sit and eat.

Fine if that's what you want. But not the same thing at all.

When a pub becomes a restaurant, that's one more pub gone for good.

[MrJonno]

Aren't pubs these days just somewhere where you eat and just happen to get a beer at the same time?

Sounds like fun. Strangely enough though, I don't enjoy eating out, but I do like a drink in a pub. Especially if there's live music laid on.

Socially, it's chalk and cheese. In a pub, you rub shoulders and mix.
In a restaurant, you just sit and eat.

Fine if that's what you want. But not the same thing at all.

When a pub becomes a restaurant, that's one more pub gone for good.

Its not really that clear cut, pubs make most their money from food (good restaurants probably make most of their money from decent wines!)

[Horwood Beer-Master]

...pubs make most their money from food...

Believe it or not, there are still pubs running that don't even do food.

[Svartalf]

Also, if you knew anything about the restauration industry, the profit margins still come from the drinks... and not necessarily the strong drink either...
In France, café owners make more margin on coffee than on beer or pastis.

[JimC]

It's all these fucking anti-alcohol muslims...