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Death of the British Pub

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago

I look across this country and see pubs closing everywhere, it’s absolutely scandalous!

These are part of what makes Britain special, successive governments taxing wet sales, now a pint is far too expensive!!!

I say give pubs a chance to survive, I’d like to see can and bottle sales of alcohol taxed excessively and wet sales of beers and ciders dropped by 50%

Thus giving the pub industry a chance to survive, something which I fear is not going to happen unless we act.

Please raise a glass and give your views

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Currently sitting in ‘our local’ ads is playing dungeons and dragons while I slowly get d*unk on a bottle of wine. It’s Sunday funday after all. Love a good pub me!

Geeky x

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By *agneto.Man
over a year ago

Bham

I dunno. I think a change of culture is also to blame. Guys can't get away with going to work then going to the pub for another few hours. Women expect blokes to help out at home whereas when pubs were thriving, they didn't.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Loads of our local pubs have closed because they don't draw in the drinkers any more.

You can't keep a pub open if no one uses it.

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By *layfullsamMan
over a year ago

Solihull


"I look across this country and see pubs closing everywhere, it’s absolutely scandalous!

These are part of what makes Britain special, successive governments taxing wet sales, now a pint is far too expensive!!!

I say give pubs a chance to survive, I’d like to see can and bottle sales of alcohol taxed excessively and wet sales

of beers and ciders dropped by 50%

Thus giving the pub industry a chance to survive, something which I fear is not going to happen unless we act.

Please raise a glass and give your views"

Need to look to reinvent themselves as social hubs with more uses than just drinking, especially the remote village ones.

Unfortunately there are to many in a lot of towns these days,

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Pubs and beer/cider sales have bounced back quite a bit over the past few years.

The traditional boozer is struggling because the market has changed drastically recently and is continuing to do so.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Aren't the breweries also effectively driving their own tenants out business as well? Freehold pubs are doing better I believe?

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By *ce WingerMan
over a year ago

P.O. Box DE1 0NQ

With you on that one. Back in the 90's, there were about 8 pubs within a 5 minute walk from where I live now. One has been demolished, one is an Indian restaurant, one has been converted into flats and another has been boarded up for over a year

There is a 24/7 Mr Booze just over the road that probably sells more beer/wine/spirits than all the remaining pubs put together....

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By *iscean MaleMan
over a year ago

Darlaston

I think it is sad too the pub is slowly dying. Supermarket prices dont help.. thats a good and bad thing. Good on wallet bad on pubs.. double edge sword.

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By *innie The MinxWoman
over a year ago

Under the Duvet


"I dunno. I think a change of culture is also to blame. Guys can't get away with going to work then going to the pub for another few hours. Women expect blokes to help out at home whereas when pubs were thriving, they didn't. "

Might have guessed us pesky women were to blame.

Stood at home in our pinnies with our rolling pins ready.

Oh hang on, its 2017 not 1956...

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By *innie The MinxWoman
over a year ago

Under the Duvet


"I dunno. I think a change of culture is also to blame. Guys can't get away with going to work then going to the pub for another few hours. Women expect blokes to help out at home whereas when pubs were thriving, they didn't.

Might have guessed us pesky women were to blame.

Stood at home in our pinnies with our rolling pins ready.

Oh hang on, its 2017 not 1956..."

Or 2018 even!

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By *agneto.Man
over a year ago

Bham


"I dunno. I think a change of culture is also to blame. Guys can't get away with going to work then going to the pub for another few hours. Women expect blokes to help out at home whereas when pubs were thriving, they didn't.

Might have guessed us pesky women were to blame.

Stood at home in our pinnies with our rolling pins ready.

Oh hang on, its 2017 not 1956..."

Exactly.

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By *rNaughtyNickMan
over a year ago

Birmingham

Smoking law, super markets with cut prices booze have contributed to the demise of the pub.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

My ex text me recently and asked if he could call me and said ‘I’ve got something to tell you, it’s bad news’ I immediately called him thinking someone had died ‘the swans closing’ (which is his local and spends most of his time there) he was gulping as he told me, he sounded like he was about to cry! I wasn’t impressed he made me worry like that and didn’t appreciate me laughing at him.

Geeky x

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"I dunno. I think a change of culture is also to blame. Guys can't get away with going to work then going to the pub for another few hours. Women expect blokes to help out at home whereas when pubs were thriving, they didn't.

Might have guessed us pesky women were to blame.

Stood at home in our pinnies with our rolling pins ready.

Oh hang on, its 2017 not 1956..."

haha i own a local pub, people still and always will like a drink in a pub, its hard to keep them going but its possible... rule 1 in my pub is respect... rule 2 is laughter... we do ok!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

There making a comeback iv noticed

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"I dunno. I think a change of culture is also to blame. Guys can't get away with going to work then going to the pub for another few hours. Women expect blokes to help out at home whereas when pubs were thriving, they didn't.

Might have guessed us pesky women were to blame.

Stood at home in our pinnies with our rolling pins ready.

Oh hang on, its 2017 not 1956...

Exactly. "

Yes, but if you are using that logic, pubs only had half the amount of customers in those days.

Few women went to pubs. And if they did, they had a port and lemon of a Saturday night

With their husbands

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"There making a comeback iv noticed"

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Price is a part of the problem, but if you are going to pay 3x supermarket price for beer you need something extra to make that feel like value for money, unfortunately the pub is struggling to find that added value.

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By *ud and BryanCouple
over a year ago

Boston, Lincolnshire

A big issue for us is that when we go to a pub (this happened last week) Dave asks for a dark beer, only to be confronted with a vast array of lagers, 2 light ales & an "extra smooth" so called bitter.

As a fan if porter, dark mild & brown ale, Dave is finding it hard to drink in a "normal" pub.

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By *layfullsamMan
over a year ago

Solihull


"Smoking law, super markets with cut prices booze have contributed to the demise of the pub."

Smoking law was fantastic though for us none smokers.

You don't go to the pub for just the booze though, it's up to the pubs to make it such a good place to be that you don't mind paying £4 plus a pint.

I think in general people have changed and are happy to slump in a chair and watch crap on tv.

Even in the pub people can't put there phone down

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

i dont think the smoking ban is fair, each pub should be able to choose whether or not to enforce the ban, adults have the choice to drink or work there or not!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

p.s non smoker here

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By *layfullsamMan
over a year ago

Solihull


"A big issue for us is that when we go to a pub (this happened last week) Dave asks for a dark beer, only to be confronted with a vast array of lagers, 2 light ales & an "extra smooth" so called bitter.

As a fan if porter, dark mild & brown ale, Dave is finding it hard to drink in a "normal" pub."

Is the eagle still open on Boston ?

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By *layfullsamMan
over a year ago

Solihull


"i dont think the smoking ban is fair, each pub should be able to choose whether or not to enforce the ban, adults have the choice to drink or work there or not! "

Not sure where you work but let's say it's a car showroom.

Would you be happy for customers to come in and fill it with fag smoke so thick you can hardly see and that you go home stinking of it(hair, cloths, skin)

Then your boss says you can leave if you don't want to put up with it.

Can see the argument though but I think the smoking places would die but hey they might flourish.

They'd have to shower and change cloths before moving to my none smoking pub though

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By *ty31Man
over a year ago

NW London

It's a combination of things. The rising price of alcohol plus the fall in disposable income post recession combined with the rise of social media and healthy living/body image etc inevitably leads to a decline in the role of the boozer as a focus as the social hub.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"i dont think the smoking ban is fair, each pub should be able to choose whether or not to enforce the ban, adults have the choice to drink or work there or not! "

I have folk in Reno where they don't have a blanket ban on smoking in bars. A few years back some bars went non-smoking and some stayed smoking. A few months later, they nearly all went back to being smoking bars because the non-smoker places were empty.

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By *lue NarwhalMan
over a year ago

Iceland, but Aldi is closer..

Pubs have been closing for the last 20 years, probably at its worst around 15 years ago when 1 pub a day was closing in the UK.

Those that made the transition from wet sales only to food had more of a chance of survival but even that wasn't enough for some, the British desire to go out for a good meal became far greater than the want to sit in a bar listening to a few old boys and a couple of builders swearing and getting pissed.

If you look across Europe, Britain is the only country that has a pub industry, everywhere else has the occasional bar where men alone will go to drink, smoke and play cards or dominoes, the vast majority of other places serve food as their main business and drink is a side business. Only the city centres of Europe bucked that trend, catering for the wants of tourists.

So after hundreds of years, the british pub has rolled over and died... Well not so, it would seem. The huge interest in brewing and the growth of the microbrewery and "bathtub" gin producers has spawned a new era of micro pubs supplying locally produced beers and spirits, it would seem it has gone full circle and is back at its infancy but at todays standards.

Our tastes have evolved as our access to the world increases and we expect far more than the local could ever offer.

Women are no longer expected to stay at home while the man of the house goes to meet his mates for a drink, those days are long gone and along with it, the last bastions of inequality.

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By *layfullsamMan
over a year ago

Solihull


"i dont think the smoking ban is fair, each pub should be able to choose whether or not to enforce the ban, adults have the choice to drink or work there or not!

I have folk in Reno where they don't have a blanket ban on smoking in bars. A few years back some bars went non-smoking and some stayed smoking. A few months later, they nearly all went back to being smoking bars because the non-smoker places were empty."

I was in Reno last year and I think the smoking bars get around it by not allowing people under the age of 21 in.

I found a few bars that I had to seek out that we're none smoking(to try to get a different crowd I guess) and they were packed out.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I live in a very small town with a very small town centre, but there are 5 pubs situated all around the town square.. and all are thriving..

Mind you its a tourist town so that might have something to do with it

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By *eliciousladyWoman
over a year ago

Sometimes U.K

It’s been said, pubs need to reinvent themselves.

The ones near me have weekly events, live bands, food/drink promotions and staff that are cheery and welcoming.

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By *ommenhimCouple
over a year ago

wigan


"i dont think the smoking ban is fair, each pub should be able to choose whether or not to enforce the ban, adults have the choice to drink or work there or not! "

I wholeheartedly agree ..... with nothing you’ve said! You have to protect employees long term from the harm of cigarettes, bar staff are generally younger and more willing to do a bar job..... it’s the last job in town but in a smokers pub.... 20 years on and despite never smoking they come back to you suffering the effects of your pubs atmosphere... similarly lots of builders think hard hats are a nuisance they can’t exclude themselves. As a smoker with 20 years as a licensee I embraced the change, if the first drinks an 18yr old has aren’t in a smokey flea pit pub where smoking looks so cool hopefully the next generation will wipe out the habit. Public and who have sat in their pubs watching the next and next close and done nothing to improve their offering should hang their heads as the institution is wiped out. I have a local pub and I’m aware of many that I simply wouldn’t step through the door of.... because of their piss poor deco, badly written signs, fuckwit customers and the like....

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By *ophieslutTV/TS
over a year ago

Central

Larger supermarkets that sprang up from the 80s, have had drastic effects upon local businesses, where the shop thrives but not much else has prospered. On that foundation other changes have knocked them further, including slashing of much public transport.

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By *ambornemanMan
over a year ago

In your town now

The smoking ban killed off most pubs i think

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Pubs are really struggling. The smoking ban/prices in supermarkets/social media/drink awareness campaigns. These all could have contributed in some small way.

I make a conscious effort to support my local, and it’s a good one, a good landlord and crowd that goes in.

There was a main road (about a half mile long) and it had 4 pubs, there is one left, and it’s the rough one,

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By *obyn GravesTV/TS
over a year ago

1127 walnut avenue

...though on the plus side it does sometimes mean you've gained a handy tesco express.. where the pub once stood..

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By *imon and saffyCouple
over a year ago

southampton


"A big issue for us is that when we go to a pub (this happened last week) Dave asks for a dark beer, only to be confronted with a vast array of lagers, 2 light ales & an "extra smooth" so called bitter.

As a fan if porter, dark mild & brown ale, Dave is finding it hard to drink in a "normal" pub."

This sums it up. Too many "old style" pubs being run by big breweries using a poor economic system for tenants and customers. The beer on offer being very average at best.

The huge growth in micro pubs, who are thriving, shows how bad things are for the old school. The micro pubs don't sell mass produced lagers and bitters; They sell a good mix of small brewery's beer at reasonable prices.

Plus there's usually a good selection for us darker ale drinkers.

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By *p4fun0121Man
over a year ago

birmingham

Facebook and social media play part of this too, also the smoking ban and many other contributions, not prices on alcohol, we can all afford to drink in pubs and for a good night a few quid Is nothing,

If you and your friends all know each other's business and everyday life. what do you talk about down the pub? There's no such thing as catching up nowadays as we all know what goes on in each other's lives, "back in the day" there was no social media, so to catch up and have a laugh you had to make an effort and leave your house, not only that most alcohol tastes like shit and it ruins and takes lives, I'd rather get high and chill

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

You'd think the government would try push more towards the pub, 1. it's keeping a level of industry going while supporting British businesses. 2. They make a fair bit of duty off the drinks 3. With their new reduction on plastic and more let's recycle it makes sense to go pub, firstly most would have a pulled pint rather than a can or bottle secondly if they did have a bottle then the pub would dispose of it in a sustainable fashion.

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By *p4fun0121Man
over a year ago

birmingham

It's all about going green

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"Facebook and social media play part of this too, also the smoking ban and many other contributions, not prices on alcohol, we can all afford to drink in pubs and for a good night a few quid Is nothing,

If you and your friends all know each other's business and everyday life. what do you talk about down the pub? There's no such thing as catching up nowadays as we all know what goes on in each other's lives, "back in the day" there was no social media, so to catch up and have a laugh you had to make an effort and leave your house, not only that most alcohol tastes like shit and it ruins and takes lives, I'd rather get high and chill "

"We can all afford to drink in pubs"

How do you determine that?

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

im kinda glad the pub is dying out....where i am the center of town is a frightning place at a weekend,full of violence and other such nonsense..i used to live in holland..in the year and a bit i was there i never saw any fights in any coffee shops.never saw gangs of young lads staggering about pissed either.i think the drinking culture we have in the uk needs to go...

the sooner they ban booze the better..in the wise words of bill hicks "there are better drugs and better drugs for you than alcohol"

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By *p4fun0121Man
over a year ago

birmingham

How can I determine that?

Well for one I could quiet easily make 3 pints last me long enough to enjoy a good conversation and have a laugh, last time I went out it was average £3 for a pint so for the sake of £10 I could stop off for a social visit and have a few. Drinks at the same time, if you don't have £10 to do that, then be more productive or get a job, if you already have one get one that pays better, if that's what you want to do .

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"I look across this country and see pubs closing everywhere, it’s absolutely scandalous!

These are part of what makes Britain special, successive governments taxing wet sales, now a pint is far too expensive!!!

I say give pubs a chance to survive, I’d like to see can and bottle sales of alcohol taxed excessively and wet sales of beers and ciders dropped by 50%

Thus giving the pub industry a chance to survive, something which I fear is not going to happen unless we act.

Please raise a glass and give your views"
.

I've said this for years and years, we've got the tax in the wrong place, it should be 150% higher in the supermarkets and reduced 50% in pubs.

There's at least a social side to public houses, there's a societal connection to warn you of excessive consumption, drinking at home alone is the path paved with good intentions that leads to hell.

It's time to encourage youngsters back into locals where there's parents and friends to keep an eye on them, it's time to encourage people back into they're local pubs to meet neighbours and friends and end this bottle of wine in front of the telly death knell

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By *ust RachelTV/TS
over a year ago

Horsham

For me, it is the locals that ruined the pubs. I used to enjoy going to the local for a few pints, relaxed chat with my mates. Now it seems the half pint brigades are There, they have a few pints, being a lager lout. When you politely ask the to be more considerate with the language, they want a fight.

Now we go to friends with the drinks we like, enjoy goog company without the agro.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago


"im kinda glad the pub is dying out....where i am the center of town is a frightning place at a weekend,full of violence and other such nonsense..i used to live in holland..in the year and a bit i was there i never saw any fights in any coffee shops.never saw gangs of young lads staggering about pissed either.i think the drinking culture we have in the uk needs to go...

the sooner they ban booze the better..in the wise words of bill hicks "there are better drugs and better drugs for you than alcohol""
.

That's nonsense, alcohol is the drug that brings forth somebody's inner self, some people are just nasty and sobriety masks it

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By *oachman 9CoolMan
over a year ago

derby


"I dunno. I think a change of culture is also to blame. Guys can't get away with going to work then going to the pub for another few hours. Women expect blokes to help out at home whereas when pubs were thriving, they didn't.

Might have guessed us pesky women were to blame.

Stood at home in our pinnies with our rolling pins ready.

Oh hang on, its 2017 not 1956...

Or 2018 even!"
I,ve got one of those rolling pins made of solid wood (Made in England, Those were the days ) The English pub is part of our culture and If your still lucky enough to have a old historical one where you live It gives the location a Identity and can tell a story through time, If I go to one its usually the historical one of the village £7 for two pints A packet of scampi fries or smoky bacon fries listening to the birds sing in the summer garden yes all that to me I enjoy, meals Inside if you want them..

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By *otlovefun42Couple
over a year ago

Costa Blanca Spain...

It's many years since I left the UK but every time I return for a visit it seems another of the local pubs has closed.

It seems that only the town centre "wild west saloon" types can survive these days.

The old street corner local pub (think Rovers Return) has pretty much disappeared. Quite sad really as they served as a sort of informal community centre as well.

Smoking ban, sky high business rates, alcohol taxes, and the rise of social media have all contributed to the demise and I really don't know how it can be turned around.

There is a similar problem (although not as bad) here in Germany. Lots of Kneipe's are closing all over the country. The Germans don't have the punitive business rates and alcohol taxes so most here blame the smoking ban and social media.

When I was 22 I was in the pub at least 3 nights a week. My 22 year old stepson, and pretty much all of his friends, don't go to a pub (Kneipe) more than a handfull of times in a year. They much prefer sitting in their rooms, playing with the Playstation or X box, and chatting on social media.

A very sad state of affairs.

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By (user no longer on site) OP   
over a year ago


"It's many years since I left the UK but every time I return for a visit it seems another of the local pubs has closed.

It seems that only the town centre "wild west saloon" types can survive these days.

The old street corner local pub (think Rovers Return) has pretty much disappeared. Quite sad really as they served as a sort of informal community centre as well.

Smoking ban, sky high business rates, alcohol taxes, and the rise of social media have all contributed to the demise and I really don't know how it can be turned around.

There is a similar problem (although not as bad) here in Germany. Lots of Kneipe's are closing all over the country. The Germans don't have the punitive business rates and alcohol taxes so most here blame the smoking ban and social media.

When I was 22 I was in the pub at least 3 nights a week. My 22 year old stepson, and pretty much all of his friends, don't go to a pub (Kneipe) more than a handfull of times in a year. They much prefer sitting in their rooms, playing with the Playstation or X box, and chatting on social media.

A very sad state of affairs. "

Thanks that is a very informative level headed post!!

Thank you

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By *ud and BryanCouple
over a year ago

Boston, Lincolnshire


"A big issue for us is that when we go to a pub (this happened last week) Dave asks for a dark beer, only to be confronted with a vast array of lagers, 2 light ales & an "extra smooth" so called bitter.

As a fan if porter, dark mild & brown ale, Dave is finding it hard to drink in a "normal" pub.

Is the eagle still open on Boston ?"

It is indeed, but being Eastern Street, we don't go there.

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By *eedsandyMan
over a year ago

Leeds

Life and social attitudes have changed. As others have said, smoking bans, alcohol prices, the rise of tv, phones and other forms of entertainment have all contributed.

Take this site as an example. You can contact people from all over the world. Who now just wants to chat with local people about local issues?

And there is a much wider range of beers in any local supermarket, let alone a specialist retailer on the high street or online, than any local pub.

The same applies to crips, nuts and other snacks.

I have a far wider range of wine at home than any local pub could ever stock.

People used to go to the pub when they lived in a small, scruffy, cold house. Houses are different now. Living standards are different. Any local pub would be far smaller and far worse than my house. Why would I leave my great house and gardens for a small pub?

We now choose who we socialise with and who we chat to and who we don't. Most people ignore the world and walk around with headphones in permanently. I don't agree with that, but many do. Those people are never going to go to a pub and have to speak to people that they don't want to, about subjects that they don't want to.

And finally "local" is a different concept now. How many new private housing estates have pubs? None. So the pub is much further away. Is it walkable? No one sane would drink and drive. Is there a bus? How much is a taxi?

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