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

[terrym]

I know a few small micro brewers who all say wetherspoons really try to stitch them up on prices to the extent they are luck just to break even.

Microbrewers are running a business just like Wetherspoons. So it should be just another business decision whether they do business with Wetherspoons which is allowed for in the business plan and business risk management plan. Ethics don't come into it. If their business is heavily dependant upon a favourable deal (for them) with Wetherspoons they have got it wrong imo.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Yep, sounds about right. Overall I couldn't give a hoot if spoons were to go to the wall. However, sadly, it will be the proper boozers that suffer most. And I fear we won't get them back when they have gone.

I have never been in a Spoons as we don't have one in our town.

It has always amused me how different members views on Spoons are, earlier in the thread someone said they have a great variety of real ale and this has been said many times and i believe they are not overly expensive then you get the no atmosphere not a proper pub comments, i have a feeling few Spoons will close but many proper pubs will over then next couple of years.

 

[Buffers brewery]

My local brewery has 2 outlets (not including their shop). One is a hotel bar where they sell their beers and the other is a converted barn where they’ve teamed up with a local coffee roaster. Good coffee, very nice beers but pricey. Nice environment.

 

[kelper]

If you are in an airport or a town you don't know, a Witherspoon's is a safe bet. But Whatpub.com will guide you to a better pub.

 

[Falco]

I live in a smallish village in south Cheshire with easy transport links to Manchester and the rest of the northwest. We have six outlets selling cask and keg beer of one kind or another.

My preferred local is a small independent bar, only been open for about three years, selling four cask and eight keg beers all from local and national independent breweries as well as a great selection of bottled and canned stuff. Usual price for a cask ale is around £3.20 a pint, keg around the £4.50 mark. During the lockdown they opened for off-sales only and offered a local delivery service too.

I’d be pretty gutted to see this boozer go to the wall to be honest.
As for the rest.....I’d only shed a tear for the first one if it went under.

There’s a members only club selling cask at reasonable prices although it does welcome non-members who pay slightly more for a pint.

Then there’s one tied to Robinson’s brewery with eye watering prices for food and drink

A Sam Smiths pub right next to the railway station which despite a major upgrade a couple of years ago, has been closed for nigh-on two years because they can’t make it pay even though their cask beers are some of the cheapest available in the UK

An Ember Inns pub serving food and cask beers with reasonable prices and lastly a hotel with a public bar pretending to serve well kept cask beers.

Having said that, they all provide employment to the local community and as such anyone losing their job due to the current climate deserves some sympathy.

 

[Misteron]

There seems to be 2 main topics here, one is Covid which in my own personal opion is an exercise in control, yes there is /was a virus but the effects were exagerated to push an agenda.

The second is the future of the Pub trade. Our Pubs are an institution, a public resource. Somewhere you can go for a good discussion on whatever subject you want to persue whilst having a decent pint of beer, cider or whatever your poison may be, many a business idea or proposition has been brokered and many a Political agenda has been founded in the Public House , how many met their Misses while visiting the local Hostelry? and if we loose them where else do we have that facility? Expensive? yes, but you must consider that the tax on beer is around 80%, rent, rates depreciation utillities and staff costs are factored into the cost of a pint, the margin is around 12p a pint Tied and 25p for a Free House. I had a large Pub in Sidmouth and the Rates alone were £1000 per month!
The Government does not want Pubs period, why? because they can't be monitored and are difficult to control and allow people to congegate and with the overbearing, controling Government we have today it dosn't fit their agenda so this Covid thing will close many Pubs as will the spread of the migrant population because as they take over an area the Pubs close and as they don't drink (in public) what will be left will be those that can diversify into other income streams like B&B and Restaurants or main pubco opperators who can spread their cost over an estate.

We risk losing our Pubs at our peril, once their gone, there gone. Gobbled up by the greedy property developers and turned into Supermarkets or housing.

 

[Rodcx500z]

I agree you know what getting in spoons, the best 2 i have been in were both in scotland, Largs was not bad and the best one was in Wick

 

[Galena]

Spoons is cheap and cheerful I have used them occasionally when working away and cant find any better pub in the local town. I particularly recall having a meal at my nearest one, I ordered steak and ale pie, chips and veg. The pie was burnt to a crisp on the outside and frozen solid on the inside, the waitress did apologise and explained in all seriousness it was because they had a new chef. I think I spluttered in my pint at that, I guess spoons chefs must be YTS kids.

I haven't been to a pub since a while before lockdown, we live in a small village where the pub closed about 15 years ago, my nearest pub is about a mile and a half and a nice walk on a summers evening, they serve good ale and the food isn't bad but it gets so full of tourists as to make it unpleasant so I only go there in winter. My second nearest pub is Robinson's and I don't like Robinson's beer, so that one is out. Another, was a great little real ale pub, the landlord sold it just before the lockdown, so he was lucky to get out just in time, I do feel sorry for the woman who just bought it though.

I used to travel an awful lot for work, staying in different places all the time which gave me the opportunity to try out lots of pubs, the gems amongst them were quite rare, some with landlords that make you wonder what an earth they are doing in the 'hospitality trade' but I would see the odd one now and again and I would wonder why there was nothing like it near where I live.

I'm in no hurry to go back to a pub, it's all very well maintaining social distancing rules, but where has that glass been, who's sticky mits has it passed through and how well was it washed after the last customer? It will be a shame to lose the better one's though and they can be the centre point of any village, our village with no pub has no community spirit at all.

 

[terrym]

There seems to be 2 main topics here, one is Covid which in my own personal opion is an exercise in control, yes there is /was a virus but the effects were exagerated to push an agenda.

What agenda?
Do you believe the Covid 19 virus has gone away in spite of deaths continuing world wide and therefore there is no need for any form of controls?

and with the overbearing, controling Government we have today it dosn't fit their agenda

Again what agenda?
And what does 'overbearing and controlling' mean in relation to the current epidemic, in comparison to other governments and their handling of the situation. Or is there a wider agenda you have in mind? Bear in mind that on this forum there were members berating the government for not being hard enough, as was anyone else who had an axe to grind.
So whats your view the financial incentive given by the government to kick start the restaurant businesses, many of whom would have been pubs, was it not needed, or not enough?

 

[Stephen Cook]

They have been in pubs around me sad to say, won't go into details save that violence has been the prevalent misdemeanour.

Well, that is a different matter. That kind of misbehaving is just something that can happen with some people in the context of the consumption of alcohol in a public place. But, it's still not "misbehaving" vis a vis C19.

 

[Misteron]

What agenda?
Do you believe the Covid 19 virus has gone away in spite of deaths continuing world wide and therefore there is no need for any form of controls?

Again what agenda?
And what does 'overbearing and controlling' mean in relation to the current epidemic, in comparison to other governments and their handling of the situation. Or is there a wider agenda you have in mind? Bear in mind that on this forum there were members berating the government for not being hard enough, as was anyone else who had an axe to grind.
So whats your view the financial incentive given by the government to kick start the restaurant businesses, many of whom would have been pubs, was it not needed, or not enough?

Has Covid gone away? no, it will never "go away" just as Flu will never go away, but numbers were manipulated, there were financial insentives for the declaring deaths as Covid when it was actualy something else, Doctors received a directive to do just that, even the Government admitted that numbers were re-assesed and were less than declared.
Why was Hydroxychloriquine not used? If you compare the Countries that did use it the death toll was less than a quarter of those Countries that didn't.

I have no Axe, I just give my experience of 40 years in the Licenses Trade running Pubs Clubs Hotels and Restaurants.

One example of over bearing. I had a new Licensing Officer in my area. He walked into my bar, went behind my bar and took out my till roll looking for evidence of after hours sales. He couldn't find any so he called me into the other bar, looked around for any cameras, yes he was that blatant, got in my face and shouted at me "you will do as I say or else" my answer was "I will do as the Law tell me not what you tell me, now get off of my premises" he left and spent the next 2 years trying to catch me out. Similar experiences with the EHO threatening to close me down for something SHE hadn't done. But thats without taking into consideration loss of Civil liberties and the like.

Restaurants probably did well from the "Eat Out" but Pubs probably not so well. Most Pubs have smaller restaurant opperations than dedicated establishments, my last Pub had 60 covers, if you take into consideration Social Distancing that would bring the number down to 25 - 30 covers. To open the Kitchen and staff it plus waiting staff it's not fiancially viable even with the Government innitiative.

 

[Sandimas]

It will be a shame to lose the better one's though and they can be the centre point of any village, our village with no pub has no community spirit at all.

Yes, same here: I don't know why but my local has been through 3 landlords in the time I've lived here (15 years), they've tried all sorts, but it's never really gelled with the local community. It hasn't re-opened since lockdown, I'm kinda sad but then I'm not, it was only ever just adequate: as a homebrewer who likes to cook, it's getting more and more of a disappointment going out.

My other two locals are a bit further away. One is a "posh" Michelin-start gastropub, we went there as soon as they re-opened. The other is a fairly decent food pub, but was surprised to find their prices are just a couple of quid cheaper than the gastropub: we used to go there once a week but it seems they have hiked their prices post-lockdown, I want to support them but they aren't in the ballpark of the gastropub quality-wise. Maybe I'm out of touch, but nearly £30 for steak and chips??? I know it's hard for these places, it's an unprecedented situation, I fear we're going to lose a lot of them as the business model just isn't there.

 

[Rodcx500z]

I love this new normal i call it social utopia, put yer mask on in the supermarket if someone gets a bit close a little fake cough works wonders o the joy of life isnt it wonderful we have never had it so good (not) i hate it

 

[Rodcx500z]

but nearly £30 for steak and chips???

Jeez no way i would pay that no wonder they are going to the wall, i no its driven by what people will pay but that is taking the ****, the only out come i can see from all this is lots of people chasing jobs and lower wages and that is the agender

 

[Galena]

as a homebrewer who likes to cook, it's getting more and more of a disappointment going out.

I consider myself a pretty decent cook myself and can usually cook something better than I am likely to get eating out, unless I go to a Michelin Star establishment, and there are not many round here. I'm not sure why it seems so difficult to get a decent pub that sells good ales and good food at a fair price, one that welcomes local drinkers as well as people wanting to eat. When gastro pubs first became popular many rejected the drink only customers turning all tables into eating tables and no bar area for drinkers.

 

[Richie_asg1]

Something else that I have noticed in the last 6 months is that more people around me have bought garden furniture, gazebos and BBQ's or have installed decking or outdoor seating and lights.
They are creating their own meeting and entertainment areas to invite friends around for drinks or to sit and watch the football - in the garden on a widescreen TV.
If this trend continues then they are replicating what the pub is designed for - meeting others and drinks, but without the overheads.

 

[Jordang]

I love my local; we are in a small village and it really is the heart of where we live. A lot of us have supported it through the COVID nonsense and I’ll be gutted if it closed. It does food that is great and not overpriced ****.

 

[venkman100]

When I was young, most pubs would rustle up a ploughman's lunch if you asked. Fresh bread, Cheddar and some pickle - yummy.

My father in law is 90. Still of sound mind. He amazed me the other day when I mentioned a ploughmans lunch. He said what is that then. I told him and he replied. I don't know what you are talking about. Talk about a sheltered life. He never did go out much

 

[PhilBrew]

I've spent all last week away in the Yorkshire Dales and visited various pubs whilst there ... now I know how beers served up anywhere during or just after a long tromp through countryside will always be considered through "rose tinted" beer-goggles, but my experiences have been of being served excellent (refreshing) beers in ways which have given less cause for (social-distancing) concern to MrsB and myself than any of the (food) shopping experiences we've endured recently

Hopefully enough others will soon be finding that the measures being put in place by such places are sufficient for them to also frequent those country taverns, and those businesses will survive ... because, while I've got plenty of beer available to me at home, personally I wouldn't want to have to carry some with me everywhere I wanted to go ... and a pint in a country pub during or just after a long walk is a major part of the joys of hiking, for me

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Drunkula]

I know how beers served up anywhere during or just after a long tromp through countryside will always be considered through "rose tinted" beer-goggles

Absolutely this. We did the Cleveland Way, Offa's Dyke and Coast to Coast and those pints and the grub at the end of the day when you can practically hear your blisters pulsating are phenomenal. On the day where you end up in Shap (??) on the coast to coast, which is about 24 miles, my one mate had a mad blister party and we had to treat his toots about 3 times on the walk. I had a pair of vintage German army para boots that I hadn't worn in years and on that day the sole came off. I tried to tie it on with string - nope. I ended the day in one boot and one walking sandal** I borrowed and the pain of walking gave so so much endorphins that I ended up giggling wildly at anything. I bought proper walking boots at Kirkby Stephen. Game changer.

On the Inca Trail you get warm chicha, and if you're lucky some Cusquena, but it's nothing like semi-acceptable pub grub after a trek even if you've been to the top of Dead Woman's Pass where the oxygen is down to 51% of sea level and it takes three goes to get water along the pipe of a water bladder because you're gasping for air inbetween sucks like a carp on canal bank.

** It was a girl's walking sandal about 4 sizes too small and I had to tie between the clasps front and rear with cord to keep it on - it was like teetering on a Penguin biscuit.