So, is it time for us to call last orders on the pubs?

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Arcs

Arcs

Landlord.
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So, ok, given we have been dealing with Covid-19, then lockdown and then the reopening of pubs where people just don't behave any more. Then you can add the fact that beer is worse than its usual standard along with they are selling less varieties of it due to less applicable custom.

Is it time we as homebrewers called time on the pubs at least temporarily until perhaps next year say march when we get over another wave of this virus? I for one am thinking, well the suggestion is that the over 50's may have to shield anyway - I am 50 btw. My beer of late has been - sorry to be immodest - fantastic and way better than what I can buy in a pub. So I am at this juncture, is it time to call time on them for a while? I don't like to see people lose their jobs etc but if I am paying way over the odds of my own brew and still not getting a decent pint I might as well.

I am interested in your thoughts on this matter. 3-2-1 go....
 
In the long run I would say pubs are dead for now the only issue I can see with hb is it’s a insular participation sport which may impact negatively on social norms in the long game... but who cares 😂🍺
 
I'd love to have a pub to go to. Out in the sticks I can walk a mile or two in either direction to drink some 1664 if I'm lucky. And so I ask myself, do I miss the English pub? Yes. Beer festivals even more so. Would I go to the pub if I were still in Poole? No, I don't think so. The whole pub thing includes the jostle at the bar, the filling of your glass from the swan-neck that's just filled the last punter's glass and the whole couldn'tgiveafuckness and bonhomie. I wouldn't take the risk.
Just had a couple of lads round who are holidaying next door; a Parisian and and Italian who's lived here since he was 8. I gave them four different beers including an English bitter and a Pilsner I wasn't too fond of and they loved every drop. But more to the point, every glass is a new glass that's been dropped into a bowl of dilute bleach, rinsed and left to drain. Well, it's true that there's no better beer than free beer, but I think they'll be back tomorrow.
It is time to call time on most pubs. By and large they're greedy (here, they're twice as greedy) but it's the little breweries that'll suffer unless they can find a way of getting their beer to a thirsty public. Collections and deliveries during the lockdown seemed an admirable innovation that the bigger lads didn't really try to exploit. I reckon that's the way forward.
Enough thoughts there?
 
There are no proper pubs near me so I have no choice. But when I lived in England, I Ioved to visit a pub for lunch and a few pints. If you get chatting to other customers even better. It's great to try a few ales and unusual food. Pubs serve as community centres in many small villages and it would be a shame if they folded. So staying away till next year means they won't ever re-open. You are cutting off your nose to spite your face!

I now prefer my own beer to pub beer but that is down to where I live.
 
I do love pubs, but the problem is that as They are now they just are not the same social experience. Their is a pub about five minutes walk away for me, in normal times it has 3-4 cask ales on which constantly rotate. I’ll be honest the beer is good but not the greatest I’ve ever had, in fact I would even say some of the beer I brew is as good as or better, and certainly a Lot of the good beer I have being buying from various breweries over the past few months is better than most pub beer.

The point is that I’m not going to a pub to drink interesting new beers, (although their is something to be said for a properly kept pint of cask ale at just the right temperature) its the casual social interaction, the fun of striking up conversation at the bar with strangers, open fires etc, the problem is I’m not sure if pubs can really work with social distancing, the fear of course is that pubs won’t survive the coming months, especially the small ones.
 
If we do....they're gone. If they return they will be filled with bland **** from the mega breweries..
I'm 52,if there's a "second wave" I WILL NOT be sitting in the house...
Interesting theories about viruses and waves and stuff...look up the statistics on swine flu,Saar's etc in UK...
There will be no second furlough..if we don't get on we're screwed...another point...all these "spikes" rises in "infection"....no rises in hospital admission or deaths.
Wrong reply to the post I know...but I've had enough of it all now...
If the BBC told us enough times that bananas came from the moon we'd all believe it...
I'm off for another beer ..
 
I don't think a modest number of homebrewers staying way from pubs is going to make any difference to the breweries whatsoever. What may make a difference is a the world and his wife staying away due to Covid, whether to eat and drink, or just sink a few. Covid is already having a potentially long lasting change on our lives, including our social lives, and that may extend to pubs and how we use them. Otherwise I'm with @kelper
 
All my favourite 'pubs' are eateries that serve beer. One is the Angel at Hetton, Britains first gastro-pub. Another is the Red Lion at Burnsall. The bar, the food the other customers all make these places magical. I will support my local pub even though they only serve cold, gassy, Scottish keg beer. They are a very successful NC500 hotel and are already at full occupancy so they will survive. City boozers will struggle the most.
 
I occasionally go to the pub to grab a beer i've not tried before, but those are becoming few and far between given the state of play. Along the way I may even grab some unusual company but even that's gone now. I should be desperately finding a reason to go to the pub but I am out of tries to think of an opportunity as to why I would go? Ok cool, the eat out to help out that's fine. Erm, but why would I help out when they did nothing for me, I can go to a restaurant elsewhere if I want and erm I am a pretty mean cook myself so erf, Mister Sunak, I see your cunning plan (cough should I say baldric) and it is working to an extent, but it's flawed. It should have been drink out to help out given the taxes on beer as it is, not food ^^
 
The pound a pint seems fair, and wethies got close with £1.29, but the kebab, damn, makes me feel all posh given they are a fiver a shot where I live lol!
 
kelper said:
All my favourite 'pubs' are eateries that serve beer. One is the Angel at Hetton, Britains first gastro-pub. Another is the Red Lion at Burnsall. The bar, the food the other customers all make these places magical. I will support my local pub even though they only serve cold, gassy, Scottish keg beer. They are a very successful NC500 hotel and are already at full occupancy so they will survive. City boozers will struggle the most.
Click to expand...
I’ve mixed views on gastro pubs some can be excellent but all to often it seems the quality of the food is inversely proportionate to the quality of the beer.

That said their are some decent pubs in Oxford near where I work where I can have one of life’s great pleasures a really decent pint of beer and a burger.

Their is also a nano pub in Oxford covered market they don’t do food but they don’t care if you bring in outside food, so decent cheese from the cheese shop their, bread from the bakery and a range of decent beers.
 
kebabs are a sound treat to go with my HB, but i wouldn't bother after a 50 quid night out in the pubs lol
 
A lot of pubs are major parts of the community lose them and you will lose a big part of some communities.
 
kelper said:
EEh, I loved the Donner Kebabs from the van in Skipton, greasy and spicy! Ate one off me steps after a bevvied night out after I dropped the bgr
Click to expand...
I suspect I am coming off as very Southern English, but Oxford has a place doing Greek kebabs (souvlaki) fresh meat cooked on a skewer over charcoal served in a pita bread with chips, fresh tomato, salad) I have even eaten them sober.
 
I didn't think I missed the pub until I went back to one. Yes the beer is not what I would normally drink but the banter and catch up with friends and locals.

Luckily they are country pubs and people seem to behaving. In Wales the pubs have only really opened the last few weeks and generally the weather as been good so people are outside it may be different in the winter. I have been down the last 2 weekend's and had a good time and long may that continue
 

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