On the demise of the British pub

[walpurgis]

No. But it was Hogmanay and my girlfriend took it upon herself to do some 'upskirting' on the two Scottish guys who'd turned up in kilts. She didn't show me, but got hysterics out of her mates!

[Marco]

Haha... I've always said that if you're a single guy, who suits a kilt and wears it 'traditionally', it's the best way to pull!

Marco.

[walpurgis]

Prefer my nice gingham frocks personally. (they look wickedly kinky with fishnets).

[Marco]

That's wonderful, shweety. Do you shave first? I always find wearing some studded leather bondage kecks, with a built-in 'peek-a-boo' front panel, does the trick!

Marco.

[jollyfix]

We, my sister and i were taken to restaurants and pubs since we were very young. Those places to us were adult places, we would be on our best behaviour . My mum and dad would tell us off if we got a tiny bit loud etc.
Recently in a pub, not a purpose family pub, just a normal boozer. Three loud young brats running about, ran into me whilst leaving the bar with a couple of pints, sploshed a fair bit of beer on to the floor ( could have been worse), bloody parents said "oi mind the children"...... I had words with them, but of course their kids can do no wrong in their eyes. Thats the problem. its a pub, not their living room, or garden at home.
Pubs where kids can roam and be kids fine, again those places tend to serve food, so can eat have a drink with all the family, but please not a drinking pub...
Difficult in the country side, as may just be the one local pub catering for all, but if thats the case, keep an eye on your kids.

[Minstrel SE]

Location, atmosphere and it depends what you are looking for at any given moment. I might find it great to go to an Aberdeen dockside pub with my uncle Tony for a boozy night soaking up the atmosphere of the dockers and dodging the prostitutes

Other times I want a good country, family friendly pub with a nice garden to catch a bit of sunshine

I'm not a smoker now but I can see that the smoking ban didnt help many pubs. Ive just seen too many pubs with lazy owners who cater mainly for a local estate. They are just not very welcoming and the atmosphere is a bit crap to sit and enjoy a drink with a girlfriend.

I'm at an age now where I prefer a quieter bar without young lads mouthing off at the pool table. I can't enjoy a drink with the local dickheads coming in. A lot of pubs seem tied in with a brewery chain which confuses things.

I will now go out of my way to find a good pub.

I think people are just spending less on going to pubs. I go back to my earlier point that many pubs seem depressing and badly run. I wonder how they are making money and remain open.

[Pigmy Pony]

Home!

Which brings us back to the title of this thread! The remaining clientele would not be enough to keep the pubs open, especially the drinkers who have a self-imposed one and a half pint limit (no offence Marco) Actually that's not entirely true as many of these would move on to soft drinks which are much more profitable.

My born-again non smoking brother was fairly buzzing a few years ago when Preston opened its first non-smoking pub, which was three or four years ahead of the ban. "All pubs should be non-smoking", he said. A few months later I asked him what this pub was like, and whether their no smoking policy looked like a success. "Never been in, you know I don't bother with pubs much". Two years later the place closed down, it's now a Harley Davidson dealers.

One thing I did notice after the ban - the smell of sweaty armpits was much more noticeable. Maybe we should target them next. Then we'll tackle the fatties.

How about this: a complete smoking ban in and around pubs which serve food so the good folks who've turned out for their plate of hoity-toity au-gratin with a glass of prosecco can enjoy their evening without the filthy smokers ruining it for them, and the traditional 'old man' pubs can go back to doing what they've successfully been doing for hundreds of years?

Oh and the kids are only allowed in the food pubs.

[Pigmy Pony]

You might come unstuck there because once you get into the car, even to test your blood alcohol, you would be liable to a conviction if over the limit. Probably safer to bring the kit into the pub with you!

Geofff

If your personal breathalyser in any way resembles an e-cigarette you may be chucked out as they're getting it in the neck these days

[Firebottle]

I don't know about anyone else here, but when Del and I were brought up, and old enough to be taken into restaurants, or any other public places where children were allowed, our parents kept us occupied by TALKING to us, and/or involving us constructively in the overall experience, which in a restaurant would mean us sitting at the same table together and tasting/discovering different foods, where we'd learn where it came from, or just generally chatting and being together as a family.

We didn't need a dedicated 'play area', with a sandpit in, or whatever, to keep us 'amused', and most importantly, our parents wouldn't have wanted to put us there either! That's simply because they were willing to devote the time and effort necessary to help us grow up into well-behaved, educated adults, by teaching us how to conduct ourselves properly in public places.

Contrast that with these days, where many parents do the complete opposite, through sheer laziness, and so are only too willing to dump their little darlings in said play area, ASAP, to get some 'peace', erm, just so then they can sit on their mobile phones and ignore each other! It's no wonder so many kids are unruly these days, and unable to communicate properly, or adjust their behaviour to compensate for different environments, when they've been brought up like that.

Therefore, if more parents today did their jobs correctly, and took proper responsibility for their kids, while in restaurants, or other public places, rather than placing that onus on someone else, then we wouldn't need pubs to be "family friendly"!!

[Rant over]

Marco.

I'm 100% with you there Marco. One of the real benefits of living in France was that all children were 'under control', or to put it more accurately they were polite and respectful.
It really ticks me off when I see, and hear, brats ruining the enjoyment of everyone else.

[Joe]

A
I don't know about anyone else here, but when Del and I were brought up, and old enough to be taken into restaurants, or any other public places where children were allowed, our parents kept us occupied by TALKING to us, and/or involving us constructively in the overall experience, which in a restaurant would mean us sitting at the same table together and tasting/discovering different foods, where we'd learn where it came from, or just generally chatting and being together as a family.

I don't remember ever going to a restaurant with my parents when we were little, apart from on holidays, but in any case we were incredibly well-behaved in public. Of course children weren't allowed in pubs back then, so if my parents went to the pub we were left with a relative, usually my cousin who was a couple of years older than us. A mate who's the same sort of age as me says he and his sister used to be left in the pub car park with a bottle of lemonade and a packet of arrowroot biscuits when his parents went out for a drink. Generally speaking though, it'd be my parents, grandmother and assorted aunts and uncles boozing and talking the hind legs off several donkeys in the dining room whilst us young 'uns would be left to our own devices. If we made too much noise we were told to 'play outside'. The adults weren't interested in what we had to say, and vice-versa.