For the Brits on the Board - Pub Closings - what is to be done?

Just came across an expose on MSNBC about the horrible pattern of London Pub closings, apparently due to rising property prices and their relative worth as flats.

I know the Campaign for Real Ale is involved in seeking to protect these as national, historical monuments. As an outsider, a serious brewer (yep, went nuts - trained in malting and brewing through Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh), and a lover of fine ales (and the culture of pubs that attends them - many fine nights in London, the Cotswolds and points north...never forget Hook Norton, the genial hosts/publican at the Pear Tree Inn, for one), I find this trend to be a true shame. Anyone on board here involved with any of this? Any thoughts?

 

The pub i used to drink in closed about 3 years ago because the building and land (car park) was bought by developers. I have to walk past it on the way to my new pub, The building has been knocked down, But you can still see where everything used to be, really sad.

Luckily though i found that the next pub down is even better, it's also a listed building (it's nearly 200 years old) so even if they wanted to sell it to developers they couldn't. Even the cobbles outside it are listed.

What pisses me off even more is for every decent traditional pub that gets knocked down two or three wetherspoons pop up and they are crap. The places feel like hotel lobbies, Not pubs.

 

Your second paragraph - is this common, pubs this old, are they automatically listed due to age? Forget the name of it, but Oxford, I think's it's been in continual use since the 1400's.

I really hope these old places stay, at least - beautiful pieces of history and culture. I also know consolidation is a poison that is affecting all industries, and brewing is one of them - it seems Inbev/SAB/Megaindustrialcrap are intent on buying up everything (hell, gobbling up Budweiser - the bane of all true beer everywhere!), and collapsing it all to one. I'd really mourn the loss.

 

Generally pubs that are in old buildings or buildings that have local historical importance will be listed. Though this technically doesn't guarantee they will stay as pubs it does guarantee they wont be knocked down, and given the size, cost and location of these buildings being a pub is all they are realistically able to be.

if England loses its pub culture we might as well give up and move out, the old English pub is an institution which every effort should be made to protect. I've had conversations ranging from which pawn to move first in a game of chess to what flavour coke i would introduce if i was in charge, with people ranging from 20 year old lesbians to 80 year old Rastafarian's while sat at a bar drinking magners.

last week during a lock-in (a lock-in which i didn't leave until 6 am) the hot topic was "If you had to have your hands removed would you leave stumps, have chimp hands or have a pair of feet put on in their place?), we "debated" this for about 2 hours, Then i said i have never seen a pub cellar and was given a guided tour of the chiller room by a 21 year old barmaid in pyjamas. Now that's an enjoyable night.

 

I hope so, Stox - a wealth. Nothing like it in the world, the culture and history. My wife and I spent some time in Warwick as well. Forget the name of the pub - it was as if the record stopped playing, when we entered, locals only, usually - but it wasn't a minute or two before 3 lads, a Brummy and two Warwick boys, befriended us. Great time. I really loved our trip throughout your country.

LOL - yep, sounds like it. I don't have it going now, but at one point, I had my own English cellar at our home, running 6 lines from a cellar below, and drawn on engines. The "brewery" produced weekly. I maintained, at any one time, usually, 3-4 bitters (from ordinary to ESB), a strong Porter and Imperial Stout. All Maris Otter malt from the North country, and many Kentish hops. The Brewery:





A sample label:



Throughput of 13 gallons bitter wort.

 

A couple of reason could be that drink can be bought from the Supermarkets very cheaply and also the drink driving law is hitting home.

 

looks like a nice set up you have north. Iv always fancied doing some brewing but never really had the space for it.

 

I love that setup.

 

Traditionally pubs were the cheapest place to buy a drink, but this gradually changed in the 80s and now supermarkets and offlicences are far cheaper...

Added to this is the credit crunch / recession...

I reckon maybe half will shut over the next five years...

In London this trend is particularly noticeable as the land that the pub sits on is far more desirable than the pub or its patrons...

A lot have shut...

Good pubs in the south are hard to find though.. I mean, it would nice just to get smile off the barmaid or manager when you walked in... I don't think most give a shit really...

 

That is a GREAT PUB topic. Actually and gratefully you can find topics like that discussed in a lot of bars around the world. Sometimes in some cities you need to hunt long and deep to find the right places.

Sounds like an excellent and worthwhile evening.

Meanwhile, NPT: geez that is a pretty big set up you developed. I hope your brews were/are tasty.




I've got to give out more rep....that pub discussion post was totally green rep worthy..There is no doubt that the only acceptable answer is chimp hands. Anyone who can't see that needs to have a few more beers to help them clear their brains.BTW: I could never understand why my ex didn't see the value of discussions of this import

 

the smoking ban is the main reason that pubs are closing

its cheaper to drink at home now anyway, i go to the pub to watch the footy but not usually on a night out very often

 

I hope so - very seriously into it, and, as with my cooking, I am a bit of a religious freak for refinement across the entire production chain: if I don't hit my target starting gravity within a couple of 100ths of a point, if I don't send absolutely, brilliantly clear bitter wort to the fermenter, etc., I'm not a happy camper - my most famous example of "intense" (my characterization), or "insane as it comes" (my wife's characterization) was a night of hell - doing a dunkelbock by authentic german decoction.*** On the farm we rented in Wisconsin, night brew, snow on the ground, 10 below zero, and with the brewery ("Ugly Betty" because I was, and am, a lousy TIG welder) needing to scream outside, at 530,000 BTU's propane, a seriously cold overnight brew. The lauter screen clogged, and I had to start over. I finished my brew day close to a full 24 hours later. The recipe was evermore named, "Hellandback Bock."

Please forgive a small boast, but the first and only beer I entered into a competition - my "Seven Suns Strong Scotch Ale" - won 2nd in the Midwest and was to be sent on to the National AHA (American Homebrewers' Association) finals. Over Christmas, my wife's family drank the last of the bottles to be sent as competition samples. So, Seven Suns, uh, set.

***Boiling some portion of malt/water to raise the remainder mash temperature, as opposed to the English method, or steeping grains and increasing temp by hot water additions; decoction, by "maillard reactions," develops melanoidins, the famous "German" "malty" character to darker lagers, traditionally, but a serious pain in the ass.

********

By the way, anyone interested in doing a cask ale brewery, or knowing at least one regimen employed to control beasties in such a brewery (as you have in England), years ago someone printed my article on the web, something I wrote while studying through Heriot-Watt - just searched, it's still there. Scroll down to "articles," and my article, "cask only brewery quality control" is still there (warning: Word document, long):

http://www.brew-monkey.com/articles/

Cheers!

Paul