The end of the 'traditional' British pub?

Atomised neoliberal British society is not a good place for community-oriented pubs. That's what pubs were about for the previous generations. Community. Getting somewhere warm. Escaping from the wife on her bad days.

We don't need that anymore. Our culture is about getting utterly ****ed and escape from this society of madness. That's why we have cheap and cheerful chain pubs. You escape not by turning to the warmth of other people so much as just trying to get far from reality.

Very good news, pubs should be banned.

Too many drunk drivers and alcoholics in our streets!

don't know about banned but I can agree that alcohol is too cheap, especially in supermarkets and some crappy bars.

I think even If we ban alcohol the problem will still be there. If you're addicted to alcohol you'll get your fix by any means. Moonshine? Criminal gangs involved in alcohol dealing?


Posted from TSR Mobile

The old pubs shouldn't be demolished though.
They'd be better off converted into flats/houses, since that way the history is still there.

Wetherspoons are now taking over the indie pubs

Definitely, though some pubs do need knocking down (unsafe old ass buildings).

I see many pubs though that are converted into apartments these days. A lot of pubs round here were absolutely huge. One pub in my area has been converted and the landlords have kept the sign


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http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/aug/12/pubs-closing-rate-31-week

Yes brewers, pubcos and huge supermarket chains such as Tesco are all to blame, but there's a lot of things that IMO Organisations such as Camra and hardcore real ale people fail to understand. Many local pubs in my opinion were too late to respond to change in trends and seem to ignore the needs and demands of the younger generation (under 40s). The traditional pub is dying in my opinion and has had it's day.

I disagree with the retarded Guardian crowd. In these cases it's adapt, evolve or die. Myself I don't give a **** about Camra or 'Real Ale' enthusiasts to be honest. They're all out of touch with the rest of the population. If it was up to them the only thing we'd serve in the UK is piss weak golden and mild ales.

In my opinion sometimes we need to let go of nostalgia and move on.



Posted from TSR Mobile

That's good then at least.
Although others could/should be converted into breweries, and have the unique ales marketed like other famous beers. That way you could still potentially make a lot of money off them (especially if they're marketed to China, the USA, etc, since they'd view the ales and their history as special (Americans even have a high regard for Stella just because it's European)).

I agree that the stereotypical pub culture where everyone just sits about to drink is past its sell by date though.

There is a micro-brewery boom so if pubs fail to get on board with that then it definitely is their own fault I totally agree. Brewdog has done extremely well in a small number of years. How can you know so little about a pretty easy market to understand?

I actually think there is a level of community in Brewdog bars as well. Pub quizzes are also still popular in many bars/pubs. I think most of them just need a complete update and they'd do alright. We love drinking in this country afterall.

In my experience a lot of the 'Real Ale' community hate Brewdog. With an absolute passion too. Of course their marketing is pretty in your face (plus I dislike how they act like they're underground when they aren't), but Brewdog has identified a market that the rest of the 'ale' industry isn't aiming at. Speaking to a lot of them they seem to have a 'young people can piss off if they don't like it' mentality. They sell beer people (20-35) wanna drink and in places people wanna drink in.

It's completely stupid of bars and pubs to not take advantage of the micro-brewery boom amongst younger people.


Posted from TSR Mobile

Well considering they started off in Aberdeen, which I do know well as my family are partly Scottish, I can understand the marketing. The town is full of Tennants swigging meatheads and in the context....well...it sort of is 'punk' in that there was nothing else similar and offered an alternative for young people. There are less hipsters in Scotland too (except in Edinburgh) so that kind of marketing still seemed kind of fresh. It looks a bit lame now though that they've got loads of bars and coining it in to call themselves 'punk'.

Anyway, aside from all that the beer is really, really good (rather than the typical beer festival 'real ale' which is usually horrible) and that is what matters. And yeah, I enjoy drinking in their bars and the kind of crowd it attracts, in Manchester, at least are more than bearable.

Damn! So that's why Glasgow seemed like a nice city when I visited and less pretentious than Leeds and Manchester. I really liked the vibe in Scottish bars. Less hipsters and less pretentiousness.


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In my local area there are still quite a few traditional boozers, from country pubs to working men's clubs. All are under pressure, but some of them do rather well. However the large majority of them have had to start serving food to adapt to the market and make up for loss of revenue through declining booze sales. Personally I love traditional pubs, and much prefer real ale to lager. You caIl it piss weak but it is quite easy to find a 5-6% or even higher ale on tap. Anyhow most ales are session beers, to be drunk throughout the day not to quickly get wasted on. Often I'll go visit my mate in Cumbria and go for drinks at his local because they have my favourite brew, the people are actually friendly to you and you can feel that sense of community in there. I dread the day when the only places to go out and drink are gastropubs, chain pubs, clubs and pretentious trendy bars. Long live the boozer.

I agree. They pop up every where in the last 10 year. They're is like 10 in each city and like every town?