Time to Reset the Pub and Club Industry?

[GB72]

Been watching 2 different banner stories jump from one to another of the last couple of weeks. One week the media is calling for tighter restrictions, the next it is bemoaning the decimation to the hospitality industry that the tighter restrictions will cause. An unwinnable situation. What it did do though is get me thinking about whether this was a chance to hit the reset button and whether that should be done.

Younger people are now experiencing last orders for the first time, having been brought up in a time of pre-loading, not hitting the pub until 11 o'clock and going on until the 4 or 5 o'clock the following morning. It is not just a few nighclubs anymore, it is pubs open until 2 o'clock, late bars everywhere etc that, whilst bringing an obvious boon to the nighttime economy have their own issues with antisocial behaviour, the cost of policing and such like. What it does do though is stop everyone spilling out onto the street at the same time as we are seeing now.

With one of the impacts of covid being an almost, sadly, inevitable decimation of the late night economy, should this be an opportunity to re-assess the licencing laws in this country and look at the impact of what loosing these laws has done (both positive and negative as there are many good points as well as bad ones) or should we be doing all we can to return to how we were 6 months ago. Should money be spent on propping up the current system or would it be better directed helping re-build the system from the ground up.

Hopefully this can be a discussion based on practical rather than political issues.

 

[Hacker Khan]

Been watching 2 different banner stories jump from one to another of the last couple of weeks. One week the media is calling for tighter restrictions, the next it is bemoaning the decimation to the hospitality industry that the tighter restrictions will cause. An unwinnable situation. What it did do though is get me thinking about whether this was a chance to hit the reset button and whether that should be done.

Younger people are now experiencing last orders for the first time, having been brought up in a time of pre-loading, not hitting the pub until 11 o'clock and going on until the 4 or 5 o'clock the following morning. It is not just a few nighclubs anymore, it is pubs open until 2 o'clock, late bars everywhere etc that, whilst bringing an obvious boon to the nighttime economy have their own issues with antisocial behaviour, the cost of policing and such like. What it does do though is stop everyone spilling out onto the street at the same time as we are seeing now.

With one of the impacts of covid being an almost, sadly, inevitable decimation of the late night economy, should this be an opportunity to re-assess the licencing laws in this country and look at the impact of what loosing these laws has done (both positive and negative as there are many good points as well as bad ones) or should we be doing all we can to return to how we were 6 months ago. Should money be spent on propping up the current system or would it be better directed helping re-build the system from the ground up.

Hopefully this can be a discussion based on practical rather than political issues.

Whilst I no longer am out and about in pubs on a regular basis, on the odd occasion I did go out I very much preferred the pre-covid arrangements where it was more relaxed and you were not having to sup your pints for some closing time that was brought in during the war I believe. To me the discussion should be more about diversifying our economy and not having such a reliance on things like the hospitality industry. Rather than trying to roll back licensing laws. We live more and more in a 24-7 society and I can't see that changing unless Covid has some very severe long term impacts.

 

[Orikoru]

All the Wetherspoons I know used to close at midnight anyway, pre-Covid - and Wetherspoons is all we'll have left when this is all finished anyway.

 

[Pathetic Shark]

Jeez talk about a Dystopian future... only Wetherspoons …..

 

[Doon frae Troon]

I stopped going to pubs when they started charging nearly £20 for 4 pints of beer.

 

[PJ87]

For me the pubs have been dying for years. It's a typical British thing to flog a dead horse ..

It hasn't been a viable business for years

Most profitable pubs these days branched out into food

People moan pubs have closed etc etc and too many coffee houses but coffee houses are this generations pub.. people meet for a coffee instead of a quick half after work.

Like the high street it has been struggling along for years but we always try and save things rather than adapt and move with the times.

 

[GB72]

For me the pubs have been dying for years. It's a typical British thing to flog a dead horse ..

It hasn't been a viable business for years

Most profitable pubs these days branched out into food

People moan pubs have closed etc etc and too many coffee houses but coffee houses are this generations pub.. people meet for a coffee instead of a quick half after work.

Like the high street it has been struggling along for years but we always try and save things rather than adapt and move with the times.

I vey much agree. Village pubs can still survive and they form a valuable community hub but the town center pub is an issue. They can only survive on food or massive volumes of sales and maybe it is time to look at what is next.

 

[Jamesbrown]

They got reset when the smoking ban came in and all those moaning non smokers that were supposed to be queuing up to enjoy the clean air never came.
Worked in pubs back then, and smoked and it was a sorry day when it happened.

Leave pubs alone now!

 

[PJ87]

I vey much agree. Village pubs can still survive and they form a valuable community hub but the town center pub is an issue. They can only survive on food or massive volumes of sales and maybe it is time to look at what is next.

Village pubs your right they serve the correct purpose

A town centre pub .. almost pointless now.

Well planned pubs like football pubs ... Pubs near a station for commuters before they go home.. these things work

But some are just there for the sake of it and wonder why the industry is on its knees .. even before covid.

Plus we always try and protect jobs like the high street.. when jobs are just moving now

How many delivery driving jobs were around 15 years ago compared to now?

 

[GB72]

They got reset when the smoking ban came in and all those moaning non smokers that were supposed to be queuing up to enjoy the clean air never came.
Worked in pubs back then, and smoked and it was a sorry day when it happened.

Leave pubs alone now!

That is sort of what I was pointing at. When I was younger, there was a distinct differentiation between pubs (where you went until 11.00) and clubs where you went for late drinking. Pubs have now ceased being pubs with many converting into some sort of pub/club hybrid with loud music, a small dance floor, cheap beer and shots and open until 4 in the morning.

 

[Hacker Khan]

That is sort of what I was pointing at. When I was younger, there was a distinct differentiation between pubs (where you went until 11.00) and clubs where you went for late drinking. Pubs have now ceased being pubs with many converting into some sort of pub/club hybrid with loud music, a small dance floor, cheap beer and shots and open until 4 in the morning.

I'd say that is an exaggeration as whilst those pubs exist in city centres, out of city centres pubs have got a lot more family friendly and are now doing food. Even city centre pubs are not all like that. I never have a problem finding a pub on the rare occasion I go into city centres, and I avoid loud music pubs with dancefloors like the plague.

In fact to me there are more decent pubs/bars now in cities and out that serve a good selection of ale than there ever were in my days a pub goer, you can't move for pubs selling a great beer in Nottingham, so I wish I was growing up drinking today. It depends on what you are classing as a pub. If a pub is just defined as beer of variable quality, bag of crisps and peanuts to eat and a few locals then agree they have mostly gone. But many have diversified and I'd say that is for the better.

 

[SocketRocket]

I find the British Pub culture a throwback from the past and in need of change, it encourages people to binge drink around closing time.

I used to like the way pubs operated in Germany, you came in and sat at a table, someone would come and serve you at your table and you paid when you left, food was almost always available. None of this crowding at the bar to be served or people drinking at the bar so you can't get near it to order. The bars shut when the owner decided and not by some outdated law, this tended to stretch out when people came and went, they were also very family friendly. You didn't seem to get the situation where large groups of people were drunk later on in the evening, this seems to be a British thing and IMO encouraged by the licencing laws.

 

[GB72]

I'd say that is an exaggeration as whilst those pubs exist in city centres, out of city centres pubs have got a lot more family friendly and are now doing food. Even city centre pubs are not all like that. I never have a problem finding a pub on the rare occasion I go into city centres, and I avoid loud music pubs with dancefloors like the plague.

In fact to me there are more decent pubs/bars now in cities and out that serve a good selection of ale than there ever were in my days a pub goer, you can't move for pubs selling a great beer in Nottingham, so I wish I was growing up drinking today. It depends on what you are classing as a pub. If a pub is just defined as beer of variable quality, bag of crisps and peanuts to eat and a few locals then agree they have mostly gone. But many have diversified and I'd say that is for the better.

OK bit of a generalization I admit. That is what has happened to many places in the center of the nearest town to me and I agree that Nottingham has upped its game since the the early 2000s when it was focusing on the stag and hen market.

As to the comment about standing at the bar, depends on where i am. The whole point of a village pub is to stand around the bar and chat to friends and strangers alike. Would hate to lose that (as we have at the moment).

 

[SocketRocket]

OK bit of a generalization I admit. That is what has happened to many places in the center of the nearest town to me and I agree that Nottingham has upped its game since the the early 2000s when it was focusing on the stag and hen market.

As to the comment about standing at the bar, depends on where i am. The whole point of a village pub is to stand around the bar and chat to friends and strangers alike. Would hate to lose that (as we have at the moment).

Can't people chat away from the bar. It seems to me absolutely stupid where people lean and sit at bars drinking such that there's no room for others to get served.

 

[GB72]

Can't people chat away from the bar. It seems to me absolutely stupid where people lean and sit at bars drinking such that there's no room for others to get served.

In the various locals I have had over the years people don't sit down often they stand around chatting. Just the way that the village pubs I know work

 

[User62651]

In the various locals I have had over the years people don't sit down often they stand around chatting. Just the way that the village pubs I know work

Tssk, uncivilised and nothing worse imo, in a nice pub you want a seat with a table, if no seating it's time to go to another pub.

 

[GB72]

Tssk, uncivilised and nothing worse imo, in a nice pub you want a seat with a table, if no seating it's time to go to another pub.

Totally uncivilised and wonderful (plus no other pub within 500 yards if my front door)??

 

[Crazyface]

They do Karaoke, very successfully in the pub I go to of a weekend (Friday + Saturday), and late night drinking. Pool and darts cover two of the week nights. Sundays they do a Sunday roast. Loads of parties are booked in at weekends as well. They do great food. God I hope they survive all this. It's a brilliant pub and everyone has a great time in there.
PS I sometimes host the karaoke.

 

[SocketRocket]

In the various locals I have had over the years people don't sit down often they stand around chatting. Just the way that the village pubs I know work

It's fine to stand around chatting, the problem is when people stand around the bar blocking it off for service, my local is a busy pub and you sometimes get a three deep huddle trying to get served while a group are. drinking and leaning on the bar.

 

[Slab]

They do Karaoke, very successfully in the pub I go to of a weekend (Friday + Saturday), and late night drinking. Pool and darts cover two of the week nights. Sundays they do a Sunday roast. Loads of parties are booked in at weekends as well. They do great food. God I hope they survive all this. It's a brilliant pub and everyone has a great time in there.
PS I sometimes host the karaoke.

Give the punters what they want I suppose but I'd steer well clear if that kind of racket was going on twice every week at the local