Not a pork scratching to bee seen
February 29, 2008 by knutalbert
From the Evening Standard about the changing face of London pubs, which is not as bleak as some portray it:
Bewilderingly, food is now considered as important as drink - pork scratchings do not count. The market is now increasingly about “food, family and females”.
A wail of lamentation can be heard from those diehards who are opposed to this formula. The best boozers will tolerate families up to a point, will serve food as long as it comes in packets, and have a strict policy on females which is that they must not interfere in any way with the business in hand.
Of course, these old fools should learn to live with the times. Pubs must reflect the communities they serve. No one these days wants to sit nursing a milk stout and scowling at the world as it passes by.
There have been persistent whispers that the London pub is dying, but that is far from the truth. At the beginning of 2007, there were around 5,700 pubs in the city and, since then, only 54 have closed, with half that number converted into restaurants.
thanks for this
“No one these days wants to sit nursing a milk stout and scowling at the world as it passes by”
Doesn’t sound that bad to me…
I wouldn’t mind a few codgers scowling over their milk stout, if I were allowed to take my kids in.
I’m just back from a couple of days in London with the family and finding somewhere could all have a drink together inside was a real pain in the bum. I’ve dragged my kids all over Europe. Britain is the only place where we’ve been that has such restrictions.
All my kids do is eat crisps. When they get bored, they say “Dad, I’m bored can we leave please?” “When I’ve finished my pint.” I reply. They wait until I’ve drunk my pint and we leave. No hassle for anyone.
In my experience, the Wetherspoons pubs, gloomy as they are, are the ones welcoming families. We stayed in Hammersmith the last time we were over, and they had meals and everything set up for families - their two for one deals were great. It was very convenient that the pub was at the doorstep of our hotel, too.
But I doubt that English pubs were more family friendly in the past - they were a male domeian, weren’t they?
On reading your post, I just realized that somewhere last year I went from ‘liking the idea of a pub’ to walking on by without a thought.
Even with the smoking ban and the far cleaner air, they simply lack ‘chi’.
There is some merits in a configuration where you can talk to people who didn’t go in with you, but that leads quite quickly to ‘manhandling’.
I would rather go somewhere with fresh food and a pavement where I can sit and watch the world go by scowling into my cappuccino or jasmine tea. I’ll keep the beer for a hot day.
Still, if you love pubs, would you like to cooperate in a mash up. 6000 pubs, 10 000 indian restaurants. These are too many to encode. I got an idea from Alex of http://www.designswarm.com that you might like to comment on?