Stop bashing CAMRA, better, stop brewing your own beer and get down your local pub to support it!
Don't get me wrong; I do love a local pub but much like local shops there are many that simply don't deserve support.
All too often their products are limited to the boringly mass produced options, their efforts to make the place a social hub fall way short of most peoples' expectations and a pervading layer of laziness exists because the simply 'expect' people to support them.
Yes, there are those that make an effort, and they usually thrive. But for those who make minimal effort, I'd rather see them close because they offer me nothing.
As for stopping brewing our own beer, you might have backed a loser around here. I can make beer that is tailored to what I want to drink, I can do it cheaply and easily and I don't have to walk into town and sit with a bunch of people staring at big screens or stained carpets to do so. Unless a pub offers something extra - entertainment, good food, great beer, a good atmosphere, etc. - then as a business it's failing to deliver the goods.
Unfortunately, the CAMRA mentality that we should all get out and support local pubs is blinkered, because they only want us to support the pubs they say we can! Both the pubs (and owning breweries) and CAMRA need to park up their high horses and look at what people want. If certain pubs are empty, that's a sign.
Before anyone raises the issue of VAT and duty on pubs, many of use go to restaurants and pay well over the odds when you consider the raw materials being used and staffing costs. Why? Because they deliver on so many fronts alongside the food itself. The same is true of cinema, theatre, sport, and so on. I'd pay over the odds for a good pub experience and so would many others. However, I won't pay for a dull and limited experience when I can brew better myself and imbibe in a convivial environment!
