On the demise of the British pub

[Marco]

Lol... If you're married, though, you can see my point. Quite simply, if you enjoy your wife's company, then that dictates which types of pubs you go to. Fortunately, however, Del and I like the same things!

Marco.

[struth]

Growlers.

[Marco]

It sums them up, though!

Each to their own, but those types of 'women', and I use the term loosely, (butch, foul-mouthed, pint-swilling 'ladettes', with no class or any semblance of femininity) completely turn me off

"Growlers" is exactly what they are. You'd have to dig deep to find any female genes amongst all the sweat and testosterone! As usual, you can always rely on some quality Scottish vernacular, to get your point across succinctly

Marco.

[jollyfix]

Haha, that's really funny! However, I'm not sure that the term "lady" is apt.
yep right there Marco.

Sometimes in some pubs, posh or not there are tables by the door to the ladies, and men do sit at those tables...

A good juke box is another thing i like in a pub, not so loud , as long as you can not hear the person you are talking to,but very few juke boxes found in a pubs these days, especially with a good mix of tunes.
I moved to Largs in Scotland back in the early 80's. First local pub my girlfriend at the time took me to was a Hawaian themed pub, yuk. No juke box just tapped music, and bright lights. Next place ok, but had sofas, and tapped music.
I ended up finding this hotel right on the harbour, more like a pub than the local pubs, good music too. Unfortunately got rather drunk , awoke in darkness thinking this doenst smell like our room, i was kipping in the engine room of the ferry boat to millport. No drinking for me for a while after that. Well for another two days. My girlfriends father who we were staying with for a while asked me if im a heavy drinker... err ummm no i said, trying to act like i hardly touch booze. Only found out later what he meant.

When working these days, i breath test my crew in the morning. They need to blow zero for me to let them drive anything. I never drink anything if i have to drive..
Thinking about times in the passed, my father and many like him directions would be, drive 3 miles , just passed the Rose and Crown take a left, by the kings head turn right, then at Hollybush pub turn left etc, seemed like so many more pubs then, but not sure if there were more.

The village i'm from, had 4 pubs all less than 3 mins walk from each other , all different beers and deco . Walk another 10mins any direction you would fine 6 more pubs, and this in a small village. They are all still there, and used. Some gone over to being food pubs, but all busy.

[Marco]

Haha, that's really funny! However, I'm not sure that the term "lady" is apt.
yep right there Marco.

Sometimes in some pubs, posh or not there are tables by the door to the ladies, and men do sit at those tables...

Fair enough, but not that I've encountered. For me, it's totally inappropriate for men to sit outside ladies loos. I certainly wouldn't do it. They'll likely think you're some sort of perv!

A good juke box is another thing i like in a pub, not so loud , as long as you can not hear the person you are talking to,but very few juke boxes found in a pubs these days, especially with a good mix of tunes.

Yup, I'd agree with that, as long as the music blends in subtly with, and doesn't adversely intrude, on the overall ambience. The thing I can't stand is cackling women, who giggle falsely, like hysterical hyenas, at every supposed 'joke' told by one of their friends

You know the type? They just LOVE the sound of their own voices! If the noise in a pub is so loud, in that respect, that I can't hear myself (or my wife) speak, then we'll often just leave.

I moved to Largs in Scotland back in the early 80's. First local pub my girlfriend at the time took me to was a Hawaian themed pub, yuk. No juke box just tapped music, and bright lights. Next place ok, but had sofas, and tapped music.
I ended up finding this hotel right on the harbour, more like a pub than the local pubs, good music too. Unfortunately got rather drunk , awoke in darkness thinking this doenst smell like our room, i was kipping in the engine room of the ferry boat to millport. No drinking for me for a while after that. Well for another two days. My girlfriends father who we were staying with for a while asked me if im a heavy drinker... err ummm no i said, trying to act like i hardly touch booze. Only found out later what he meant.

Quality... I know Largs very well, as when we lived in Glasgow, that was one of our favourite seaside haunts, on a sunny day. You must know Nardini's cafe? We knew the original family well, as they were from the same village in Tuscany (Barga) as my family, and had a huge house there just down from our villa.

In terms of good pubs in our local area, we're very lucky, as living right on the border between North Wales and Cheshire, means that there are no shortage of both really nice Welsh and English pubs, especially those in the country, many of which are run privately by a husband and wife team, and tick all of the boxes I listed earlier!

Marco.

[Joe]

In terms of the first bit, that never happens, as I go to the bar and bring the drinks over to her, or if there's waiter/waitress service available, it's a non-issue. As far as the latter (above) is concerned, if that happened I'd complain to the management, as men shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a ladies loo.

Heh! I was out drinking in Bath with some work colleagues a few years back, and we ended up in a rough-ish pub (by Bath's standards). The place was packed, and several of the female members of the group needed the loo. When one of them came back alone we said 'You weren't gone long'. She replied 'There was a huge queue for the ladies, so I just went into the gents like I usually do when there's a queue. The cubicles in the gents are generally empty.'

[Marco]

Ha - I could say a LOT to that, but I'll be a good boy for once!

Can you imagine if a man did the same thing, the other way round?

Marco.

[walpurgis]

Can you imagine if a man did the same thing, the other way round?

Marco.

I have done. It was a late night lock-in with the guvnor and one of the attendees had 'an accident' in the gents. Very messy and pretty smelly, so the rest of us used the ladies (including the ladies) .

[Marco]

Anyway, I said earlier that I'd expand on this, in reference to one of the ten important things I consider make a good pub:

Children are only allowed *if* their parents are capable of controlling/entertaining them, without that onus being put on the pub...

This touches on something Barry said in his opening post about pubs trying to be "family friendly", being one of the reasons for their demise.

Well, I completely agree! Why should the onus be put on pubs to 'entertain' your little brats, if you're too lazy or unwilling to do it yourself and take responsibility for them...?

Now let me qualify that....

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.

[Marco]

I have done. It was a late night lock-in with the guvnor and one of the attendees had 'an accident' in the gents. Very messy and pretty smelly, so the rest of us used the ladies (including the ladies) .

Is that when you hid the toilet cam, to film some 'stimulating viewing' for later

Marco.