On the demise of the British pub

[Macca]

I like dive. As long as the ale is drinkable I prefer them to posh pubs. Although I don't go in any pubs anymore because of the smoking ban.


The breweries are mainly to blame. Unless you are a fee house you have to buy everything from them and they are a right rip off. Spirits cost more then they do in the supermarket and you're only making pennies on a pint of beer. We used to buy spirits from the Spa next door and decant them into the optic bottle. You still had to buy some from the brewery though or they would get suspicious.

[Marco]

I like dive. As long as the ale is drinkable I prefer them to posh pubs.

Define "posh pub". Is it anything that isn't a dive?

Marco.

[Marco]

Drink driving laws and smoking ban = Death of pubs

True, but I'm not a big drinker, so a pint and a half does me, along with a meal, and I'm well under the limit on that. Yes, I carry a personal breathalyser in the car!

Marco.

[Macca]

'Posh Pub' - Clean, tidy, pictures on the walls, well-groomed staff and clientele, does food, maybe has two of those little trees in boxes outside the entrance.

[Marco]

Lol... I call that 'normal'

'Posh' is a 5-star country house hotel, or such like.

Marco.

[walpurgis]

I like dive. As long as the ale is drinkable I prefer them to posh pubs

So do I. They tend to be relaxed and friendly.

My favourite is The New Inn in Mabe, near Penryn, Cornwall. Great place. A bit off the beaten track and no pretentions whatsoever. Good grub too.

[Marco]

So do I. They tend to be relaxed and friendly.

So are the "posh" [by Martin's definition] pubs we got to, none of which are pretentious, either

Marco.

[Pigmy Pony]

I like dive. As long as the ale is drinkable I prefer them to posh pubs. Although I don't go in any pubs anymore because of the smoking ban.


The breweries are mainly to blame. Unless you are a fee house you have to buy everything from them and they are a right rip off. Spirits cost more then they do in the supermarket and you're only making pennies on a pint of beer. We used to buy spirits from the Spa next door and decant them into the optic bottle. You still had to buy some from the brewery though or they would get suspicious.

Must be a Staffordshire thing. Go to a spa round here and all you can get is fruit smoothie or some carrot juice.

In Preston, and probably everywhere else, most of the casualties are the small town pubs. Often you will pass one to find some geezer stood in the doorway having a smoke because there's nowhere else for him to go.

Even I, as a smoker, find that smoke free pubs are a nicer place to be, but I got wound up when I heard of the mardy non smoking fascists complaining that they have to run the gauntlet of smoke when entering or leaving the pub. You got your own way with the ban, what do you want, jam on it?

[Macca]

Even I, as a smoker, find that smoke free pubs are a nicer place to be, but I got wound up when I heard of the mardy non smoking fascists complaining that they have to run the gauntlet of smoke when entering or leaving the pub. You got your own way with the ban, what do you want, jam on it?

Don't get me started man.

[Marco]

Don't get me started man.

Well... You know my views on this subject.

If the government had provided some financial help to landlords, to pay for proper segregation inside their premises, between smokers and non-smokers, instead of imposing an (unfair and unimaginative) outright ban, then smokers wouldn't have been forced to stand outside entrances to pubs, exercising their human right, thus simultaneously preventing the human right of non-smokers, to breathe cigarette smoke-free air, on the way in.

Put yourself in the position, for example, of a non-smoking female, having to plough her way through groups of male smokers, all ganged up at the entrance to a pub, before she can enter the premises. It's rather unpleasant and intimidating. Del hates it. And it wouldn't have been necessary if the government had actually put some proper thought into solving the matter, instead of thoughtlessly choosing the path of least resistance.

Had proper segregation been implemented, everyone would've been inside!

Marco.