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The end of the 'traditional' British pub?

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Reply 20

Original post
by SecretDuck
They're all over the place. They must be doing something right as they're nearly always packed.


I don't like the business tactics of 'Spoons, but I can understand why they're popular. Have you seen Harrogate Wetherspoons? It looks very nice lol

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Reply 21

Original post
by yoursoulismine
I don't like the business tactics of 'Spoons, but I can understand why they're popular. Have you seen Harrogate Wetherspoons? It looks very nice lol

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One thing I like about them, is that they have everything in one place.
Though it's very unhealthy.

Reply 22

I live in a small old mining town that was then famous for making Nottinghamshire lace, and then a brewery town. The original Hardy and Hansons brewery is here (derelict as of 8 years ago, but still dominating the town!). Bear in mind it's not a huge place, there's 8 pubs, and all bar two are the old traditional real ale country type. Only two pubs have shut down in the last 30 years. Go out another mile around the town and there's another 5 to add.
I'm proud of the community my town/village has despite the fact it's not an active brewery town. The pubs are really important to our identity and if you walk in one you'll be greeted by locals, old men, young people, beer festivals, and families, all smiling.

So personally, no, not in my community, but yes, the traditional British pub is dying and we need to try and stop it.


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Reply 23

Original post
by yoursoulismine
I don't like the business tactics of 'Spoons, but I can understand why they're popular. Have you seen Harrogate Wetherspoons? It looks very nice lol

ImageUploadedByStudent Room1407876212.939483.jpg


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Wish the spoons where I live looked like that. It properly did 20 years ago. I think it needs a revamp but it's still really busy.

I quite like their curries on a Thursday £5.99 with a soft drink or £6.99 with an alcohol drink. Bargin!

Reply 24

Sounds like progress.

Reply 25

Blame the smoking ban.

Reply 26

Original post
by Mackay
Blame the smoking ban.


I blame the refusal and incapability to engage with younger drinkers and women. The smoking ban was a huge blow to the traditional pub though.

Also If they want want to sell beer to a market that is under 50yo and females included, cask real ale is no good. The majority of younger audiences and women just don't like flat, warm, weak beer ( like the rest of the world). As for the struggling pubs that only sell mainstream lagers like Carlsberg and Carling in a dingy old pub with nothing but Sky Sports and a crappy fruit machine for entertainment; they deserve to go down. For the pub industry to emphasise survival and not make the effort to attract young people is absolutely silly.


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Reply 27

Original post
by meganht
I live in a small old mining town that was then famous for making Nottinghamshire lace, and then a brewery town. The original Hardy and Hansons brewery is here (derelict as of 8 years ago, but still dominating the town!). Bear in mind it's not a huge place, there's 8 pubs, and all bar two are the old traditional real ale country type. Only two pubs have shut down in the last 30 years. Go out another mile around the town and there's another 5 to add.
I'm proud of the community my town/village has despite the fact it's not an active brewery town. The pubs are really important to our identity and if you walk in one you'll be greeted by locals, old men, young people, beer festivals, and families, all smiling.

So personally, no, not in my community, but yes, the traditional British pub is dying and we need to try and stop it.


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Kimberley? If pubs are surviving and doing well using their existing business model then why fix it? A happy to know they're fling well :smile: I'm just bitching about the traditional pubs that moan about lack of custom and don't want to adapt or change to get that custom. The sort of pubs who shoot themselves in the foot.


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(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 28

You are all writing as if this is a new phenomenon.

The number of pubs peaked on the outbreak of WWI and has been declining ever since.

If you read the history of beer, different styles of beer have always been coming in and out of fashion. Generally the beer historians blame economic factors for changes in beer styles, but as people don't generally give up what they are used to, those changes almost certainly represent generational shift. The weak cask-conditioned bitter liked by CAMRA is itself a product of WWI. The brewers never went back to producing the stronger pre-war bitters after government controls ceased. Moreover bitter rather than mild grew in popularity during the 20th century.

Reply 29

Original post
by meganht
I live in a small old mining town that was then famous for making Nottinghamshire lace, and then a brewery town. The original Hardy and Hansons brewery is here (derelict as of 8 years ago, but still dominating the town!). Bear in mind it's not a huge place, there's 8 pubs, and all bar two are the old traditional real ale country type. Only two pubs have shut down in the last 30 years. Go out another mile around the town and there's another 5 to add.
I'm proud of the community my town/village has despite the fact it's not an active brewery town. The pubs are really important to our identity and if you walk in one you'll be greeted by locals, old men, young people, beer festivals, and families, all smiling.

So personally, no, not in my community, but yes, the traditional British pub is dying and we need to try and stop it.


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Hasn't Greene King sold off that site for redevelopment?

Reply 30

Original post
by Alfissti
Hasn't Greene King sold off that site for redevelopment?


http://www.metisdevelopments.co.uk/

Reply 31

Original post
by Alfissti
Hasn't Greene King sold off that site for redevelopment?


Yeah they have, but it's difficult because it's in a conservation area and some of the buildings are listed. There's an active society that campaigns against them doing anything drastic, but in general people are happy for it to be put to good use as long as it keeps the feel and community of the town alive. I live right in the conservation area they want to build on so it's close to home haha

Reply 32

Original post
by yoursoulismine
Kimberley? If pubs are surviving and doing well using their existing business model then why fix it? A happy to know they're fling well :smile: I'm just bitching about the traditional pubs that moan about lack of custom and don't want to adapt or change to get that custom. The sort of pubs who shoot themselves in the foot.


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I didn't want to flat out say but I then realised it's not hard to find out where I'm talking about! :tongue:

I agree with you. If it's not working, change something, whether it be more advertisement, more beer festivals, different music etc. They don't need to disappear but maybe evolve. It's just a shame young people won't give the traditional pub social gatherings a try like we seem to do here, because it's what we were brought up on.

Reply 33

There's a pub on every street corner it seems to me.

Reply 34

Perhaps we should build more green spaces and town squares where people and families can sit out, dine, perhaps have a glass of wine and engage in idle chit chat a la Continent?

Reply 35

Original post
by yoursoulismine
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.



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Evidently the main thing younger drinkers want is to drink in bars that are narrowly stratified by client age - that's not a traditional pub and if pubs evolved into that sort of thing they wouldn't be traditional pubs any more.

Main problem IMO is that the price of draught beer has gone silly. The same bog standard beer I was drinking for £2.00 per pint 5 years ago is now knocking on for £3.00, every time the price gets jacked up the brewery puts a letter up on the pub wall saying that it's not their fault and it's due to taxation.

Reply 36

Original post
by yoursoulismine
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.

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I largely agree. The pub industry is extremely competitive and so it's no surprise that many pubs can't survive. A good pub to me is one with a car park, outside seating area, food, good range of beverages and even a room or two on the side.

That being said i'd like taxes abolished for pubs outside urban areas.

Reply 37

Original post
by Limpopo
Perhaps we should build more green spaces and town squares where people and families can sit out, dine, perhaps have a glass of wine and engage in idle chit chat a la Continent?


That would only work for a total of 3 months of the year, due to the weather/daylight hours.

Reply 38

I find it remarkable that any manss -produeced lager drinker can criticise real ale and craft producers whether brewing ale, craft lagers or a cider / perry producer.

mass produced lager is the 'piss weak' product...

while mild is usually lower ABV , bitters, IPA and dark ales are usually the same or stronger ABV than themass produced standard and semipremium lagers ...

Brewers and PubCos have to take a lot of the blame with their rents and beer pricing

Reply 39

Original post
by yoursoulismine
I don't like the business tactics of 'Spoons, but I can understand why they're popular. Have you seen Harrogate Wetherspoons? It looks very nice lol

ImageUploadedByStudent Room1407876212.939483.jpg


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'spoons business model , while not unique, is different to many pubcos - 'spoons take the risk and employ staf rather than puttingthe risk on the Managers which the pubCos do ...

tmany of the other pub cos follow the traditional tenancy model that the brewers established when they controlled the pub estate - which for brewers made sense - for pub cos it;s just unbridled opportunistic gouging , gouging tenants, brewrs , consumers all to sate the demands for profit of shareholders and/or service hugely leveraged debts

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