Soldato
- Joined
- 7 Mar 2005
- Posts
- 5,231
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- The Voice Of Football
How many of you still have proper pubs in your town? And when I say proper pubs I mean non-chain pubs. It's quite sad but they slowly seem to be dying a death.
I grew up boozing in what I would call a proper pub, with a 'public bar' and 'lounge'. It was cheaper to drink in the public bar and you could wear work gear in there, the lounge bar was a few pence more expensive for a pint and no work clothes were allowed. The public bar was almost like a little social club in that you could walk in at any time of day and meet up with someone you knew and enjoy a decent pint. There was a good juke box, a fruit machine and a dart board. The furniture and fittings were mostly wood, copper and brass with oddly un-matching carpets and fabrics that still worked quite well together And of course the beers were well kept by a landlord with a barrel chest, keeper rings and tattooed arms. You didn't mess with him! Now and again a sneaky lock in would allow for a late drink on a friday. If anyone has watched Early Doors you will know what I mean, if you haven't then I suggest you do as it is a great comedy series.
Yesterday I had a great day out with some colleagues from a place I used to work at who all enjoy a pint 'real ale'. This was Grand National day in Liverpool so we were expecting all the boozers to be packed. How wrong we were. We did a crawl of 6 pubs all chosen, for their real ale content, but they were no busier than a usual Saturday. Instead, the hoards of revellers had descended on the identikit bars and pub chains (Revolution, Rat & Parrot, Lloyds etc) in their identikit clothing to drink identikit beers and alcopops from bottles. A bonus in one way but a sad sign of the times in another...
The last pub we went to on our crawl (The Lion on Tithebarn Street, Liverpool if anyone fancies popping in then I recommend you do) had a cracking selection of beers and a small crowd in the public bar. The Lounge bar was a mixture of copper, brass and wood fittings with traditional style nooks and crannies inhabited by couples enjoying a quiet drink. The place even sold their own home made cheese and the barman was happy to recommend cheeses to accompany your beers. We were enjoying a good crack in there with the regulars, one of whom suddenly pulled out a harmonica and just started playing away! This guy was really talented and before long the whole pub was clapping in time and stamping their feet. So spontaneous and fantastic!
It just saddens me that most youngsters now will either have never experienced such pubs or if they went in one just wouldn't appreciate where they are. I am fortunate that my local is a Camra style pub with a roaring log fire in the winter, a great selection of well kept ales and a good crowd. But far too many of these bastions of British culture and heritage are being taken over by corporations.
/Sunday hangover rant over
I grew up boozing in what I would call a proper pub, with a 'public bar' and 'lounge'. It was cheaper to drink in the public bar and you could wear work gear in there, the lounge bar was a few pence more expensive for a pint and no work clothes were allowed. The public bar was almost like a little social club in that you could walk in at any time of day and meet up with someone you knew and enjoy a decent pint. There was a good juke box, a fruit machine and a dart board. The furniture and fittings were mostly wood, copper and brass with oddly un-matching carpets and fabrics that still worked quite well together And of course the beers were well kept by a landlord with a barrel chest, keeper rings and tattooed arms. You didn't mess with him! Now and again a sneaky lock in would allow for a late drink on a friday. If anyone has watched Early Doors you will know what I mean, if you haven't then I suggest you do as it is a great comedy series.
Yesterday I had a great day out with some colleagues from a place I used to work at who all enjoy a pint 'real ale'. This was Grand National day in Liverpool so we were expecting all the boozers to be packed. How wrong we were. We did a crawl of 6 pubs all chosen, for their real ale content, but they were no busier than a usual Saturday. Instead, the hoards of revellers had descended on the identikit bars and pub chains (Revolution, Rat & Parrot, Lloyds etc) in their identikit clothing to drink identikit beers and alcopops from bottles. A bonus in one way but a sad sign of the times in another...
The last pub we went to on our crawl (The Lion on Tithebarn Street, Liverpool if anyone fancies popping in then I recommend you do) had a cracking selection of beers and a small crowd in the public bar. The Lounge bar was a mixture of copper, brass and wood fittings with traditional style nooks and crannies inhabited by couples enjoying a quiet drink. The place even sold their own home made cheese and the barman was happy to recommend cheeses to accompany your beers. We were enjoying a good crack in there with the regulars, one of whom suddenly pulled out a harmonica and just started playing away! This guy was really talented and before long the whole pub was clapping in time and stamping their feet. So spontaneous and fantastic!
It just saddens me that most youngsters now will either have never experienced such pubs or if they went in one just wouldn't appreciate where they are. I am fortunate that my local is a Camra style pub with a roaring log fire in the winter, a great selection of well kept ales and a good crowd. But far too many of these bastions of British culture and heritage are being taken over by corporations.
/Sunday hangover rant over
Death to Wetherspoons! Hate those places. A perfect example of a soulless empty boozer. Once inside one, you could be in any town in the UK and just wouldn't know the difference.
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