The absolute state of pubs these days

[Lysander]

I'm getting increasingly aggravated by the state of pubs - for one thing, the price of a pint is getting insane, now £7 as standard for a pint! 7?! I remember when I thought £4 was a lot, and it's just going to get worse, I imagine. Because of Russians, or something.

As well as that, pubs are closing so damn early, I find. Tonight I walked into one and was told they were closing... at 9.41pm. I walked into another at around 9pm a couple of weeks ago and they just yelled NO SORRY WE'RE CLOSED, shouting at me from behind the bar. I'm trying not to take this personally by now...

AND IF THAT WEREN'T ENOUGH the quality of some of the beer is so damn weak. 4% this, 4% that premium gnats ****, Pravha etc etc, it has no taste whatsoever. It's an insult to beer. May as well consume mop water.

At Tesco it's £6 for four good quality ales. I actually went into a pub tonight and heard myself asking if they "had a pint around a fiver..." the shame of it. That's what we've come to. ******.

/rant

TLDR; a lot of pubs these days - overpriced, weak and boring beer; lazy staff. "You wouldn't download a beer".

 

[Lysander]

thought perhaps he gave up, went to the supermarket and got cheap crap for £2 for 4 cans !

Where do I get creosote at this price??

 

[Lysander]

Nothing wrong with my local Wetherspoons.

Two spoons pubs near me. Both really decent: good food, good beer, very cheap prices indeed. I was surprised at the one in Greenwich during the world cup, the food was actually nice - chicken katsu curry and two pints of beer for £11.

That's how it should be. The clientelle are meh but you can put up with them for those prices. Honestly it's worth it for the value you get.

A pint of Club Tropica pale ale in our nearby Fullers pub is £7.15. Let that sink in.

Clwb Tropica is a 5.5% pale ale from a specialist hipster brewery [Tiny Rebel], so I'm not really surprised. It's when dog**** 4% ales like Doom Bar [literally no flavour] are £6 when they start taking the mick.

That said, I was in a pub in Elephant & Castle the other day which did an amazing 3.8% ale called Volden Session [I kid you not, it is stunning for 3.8%] for £3.30. I had several of those.

 

[Lysander]

It’s not bacteria which causes hangovers though.

What is it? Because it's not just unit quantity. Five Carlings will give me a hangover [or anything from Hobgoblin]. Five Belgian beers will not.

 

[Lysander]

I'm well aware of what it is and the brewery, my shock was that it's selling for that. Even Beavertown haven't exceeded £7 in that pub (yet).

Ah ok. Yeah, I was told last night in one pub that a pint of Neck Oil from Beavertown is £7.10. Neck Oil. A paltry, watery-thin 4.3% pale ale. Not worth it at half the price.

 

[Lysander]

Was actually talking about this with a colleague last night who has recently started after being let go from a nearby pub - one of the problems was trying to manage the costs with increasingly hard to predict patterns of demand - one night it would go mental, the next they might have 1-2 customers the whole evening without much rhyme or reason though partly linked to the pandemic, making decisions on staffing tough and managing costs complicated.

Yeah, I went into a place last week and it was heaving. Same place this week, same night, I was the only one there. I ordered one pint and left, then they shut.

 

[Lysander]

Billionaire owner able to keep prices low and destroying local small businesses, not a great situation.

That's business. At the end of the day, convenience and price will always win out.

That's why so many of us use Amazon. We know it's exploitative and that they treat their warehouse workers like ****, but we still use it.

 

[Lysander]

Montague Pike up from Leicester Square is another, again a bit average......

So it does vary.

Ah yes, the Montague Pike! Been a while.

I know what you mean, it obviously depends on management. Some are very decent, some not. The Postal Order in Crystal Palace always used to have toothless vagrants outside it asking for money... turns out it was the customers.

 

[Lysander]

You’ll probably find that most coke sold on the street contains at best 10% cocaine if your lucky.

I wouldn’t recommend substituting a drinking habit for a coke habit though, far more better drugs for you such as the sweet herb.

I think he was talking about Coca Cola...

 

[Lysander]

We have customers buy cases of 15, 18 and 20 Carling or Fosters every day! How can they drink this dishwater is another question.

I think Fosters is the epitome of "cheap and cheerful" beer. I can actually do it, in extreme situations. It's the lowest I will go.

Carling, on the other hand, is the most dire beer known to man. It's fine for stripping paint or killing weeds, but you don't drink the stuff. We hit rock bottom as a species when we invented that. Forget oil spills, plastic pollution, light pollution, big data harvesting or nuclear war: Carling is the worst thing we have done to this planet, and we should be eradicated as a species for creating it.

 

[Lysander]

My biggest beef is - as the op says - the extremely harsh closing times which seem to have crept in. This is happening everywhere, even in London relative hot spots. We've been kicked out of our local (ish) pub a few times at 9:30pm. We also used to go to the same pub on the way back from football arriving about 10:10 and drink till about 11:30-midnight back in the day. Now we get dodgey looks and informed instantly upon arrival that we can only order one round and they close at 10:30pm.

I know, I couldn't believe it last night. I walked into a pub near Warren Street and was told they were serving last orders. It wasn't even 10pm. Just ridiculous. What is the point?

Actually one of the most annoying things recently in central London was when I went to a pub to do some work one evening. I went to a Sam Smiths thinking it would be cheap - £6.70 for a pint of badly-poured "organic" lager - that was bad enough. But then, when I got my laptop out, I was told to put it away. Aghast, I asked why, and they said "this is a digital detox pub, you can't use laptops or phones". No wonder the place was nearly empty. I drank the beer in ten minutes and left.

 

[Lysander]

Not sure about old. I feel same as you. Just can't justify it.
I'm happy to pay for "experiences" but personally, I couldn't pay 100 for pub food.

I think he means older inasmuch as when you're an undergrad, you only need money for drink and food. That's about it. You don't have to pay rent and bills.

When you have to pay rent and bills, spending £100 on getting drunk is just lunacy.

 

[Lysander]

Most students pay rent and bills don't they?

Oh, I didn't... fair point.

 

[Lysander]

Dude are you ever cheerful about anything? I don't mean this a dig.

Maybe this is why @413x and I get on.

 

[Lysander]

Kayak! Damn it!

The kayak is a lie.

sorry

 

[Lysander]

years ago going to a work mates house with load of other workers for a porn film night

How does this work? You all sit around watching porn... is that it? Or does anything else happen?

 

[Lysander]

Sorry to go off topic here but are “porn nights” an actual thing ? Like a bunch of dudes getting together to watch porn ?

Is this considered normal ?

Well, I know that a few of my friends at school... used to.... do it together.

 

[Lysander]

We need a "thread got awkward" meme inserted.

Yes, can we get back on topic. How did we get from the price of a pint of ale to group **** sessions.

 

[Lysander]

When did abv determine whether a beer is decent or not?

If all you're after is to get hammered, then stick to spirits or rubbish like Tenant's Super.

I don't know how to even respond to this. This post is so loaded with subtext and, sorry, ignorance that I find it flabberghasting that someone would even write this.

For a start, what do you mean by "decent"? Presumably you mean that it tastes... nice? That is entirely subjective. Sure, some low ABV beers taste nice, but by ratio, more higher ABV ones tend to taste "decent" - source on this below.

One thing we can guarantee is that higher ABV beers have depth. A lot of it. They also generally have more flavour. You know, Tenant's Super, which you seem to be basing your entire argument off, is actually not that bad. Is it worth buying? Not really no, because there are better high ABV beers out there.

Off the top of my head, beers like Chimay White, Westmalle Tripel, Rochefort 10, Gulden Drakke and Kasteel Brun are all high ABV, as in 8%+ and are all extremely high quality, not the mention the IMMENSE amount of craft better with high ABVs made in the UK at the moment. As in, a lot. Get yourself down to the Bermondsey beer mile if you ever can, and you will see that the best ones, with immense complexity and flavour, are high ABV.

Don't also forget that what is generally considered one of the best beers in the world is 10.2%:

Trappist Westvleteren 12

If that weren't enough for you - look at the top 20 rated beers in the world on Beer Advocate - not one of them is under 7%, and they go as high as 17%:

Top 250 Rated Beers

The legendary Top 250 Rated Beers on BeerAdvocate, and arguably the best beers in the world.

www.beeradvocate.com

So, in short, high ABV does not only determine whether a beer is 'decent' or not, it's absolutely a requirement.

 

[Lysander]

The OP needs to find a better pub and drink better beer. If you want £2 a pint dishwater then any old boozer will do. Quality ale from local breweries is worth seeking out and paying a premium for. Same deal with wine, coffee and food.

Yes, pubs are expensive. There are still good ones though.

You haven't understood the OP. It's about the increasing, encroaching nature of the problem. I'm not saying that good pubs don't exist, but that they're getting pushed further to the sidelines.