Free Booze
December 13th, 2007
Here’s something that most of you will be fully qualified to help us with.
We’re writing a thinkpiece on the future of British pubs and how they might evolve as society, family, communities, the economy, leisure activities, social habits, personal tastes etc evolve.
Although there are still over 100,000 licenced premises in the UK and the pub remains an integral part of British culture, things are changing. A pub closes its doors permanently every week, staying in has been the new going out, the smoking ban has changed the pub experience, drinking hours have changed, food is becoming increasingly essential, real estate prices have made alternatives uses for pub buildings and land more attractive.
But that’s all the bleak stuff - the pub will remain forever, right? - but in what form?
Please could anyone with pub-going experience (ahem) give us their point of view. We’re looking for interesting concepts or themes you’ve seen around the world, personal predictions, important societal trends to consider, your ideas for the perfect modern pub.
Does the whole concept and layout of pubs need to adapt ? Is the busty landlady and the grumpy landlord the only way? Do pubs need a bar in the corner and circular tables dotted around? Is replicating the personalised in home experience the answer?
And if you’re feeling really up for it, what’s your vision for the pub experience of the future?
We’re trying to pull things together for Monday of next week, so any help would be much appreciated.
And as an extra incentive, the best 5 respondents will receive a reasonable amount of their tipple of choice.*
*respondents must be over 18 and not have too serious a drink problem
December 13th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Ask Simon about the little pub we went to with Lauren a couple of months back. Seemed to be a good example of how little local pubs are both old fashioned yet modern in their quietness.
December 13th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
A few quick predictions.
- The decline in popularity/availability of the pint. Brewers respond to increasing anti-social behaviour by adopting smaller measures and lower strength drinks.
- Growth of the small ‘neighbourhood’ bar as more ‘downsizers’ move into the city centre. Serving a specific community e.g. waterfront, canalside, mixed-use schemes.
- Decline of the multiples, particularly in city centres, as authorities respond to saturation and address 1990s ‘laissez faire’ planning policy.
- Greater innovation in pub interiors, as major players move away from standardised formats to qurkier ‘one offs’.
December 14th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
God, surely my favourite subject, but where to start!?
Are you talking pubs or bars? Two (to my mind) very different organisms. A bar is for posing and frotting and generally getting pissed in as quickly as possible. Bars are designed, stocked and managed with this in mind. A bar is generally modern, utilitartian and actually a bit cyncial. A pub on the other hand (good ones, at least) are about people and communities. Great pubs will always exist where there’s great, vibrant people. Only the other week I was in The Castle on Oldham Street for the first time in about 10 years and that struck me as a perfect (town) pub. As someone who enjoys a bit of “blood and sawdust” it was great to see how a good pub can bring truly diverse people together and create something organic and magical: old-timers in the front on the real-ale, punks setting up for a gig at back, couples in the snug having a quiet moment and the whole thing overseen by the Polish staff (it was like bloody Casa Blanca in someways!) Ha ha maybe it all kicked-off later on, but whilst I was there the atmosphere was one of genuine good humour and relaxation. As my friend noted, the best pubs are like someone’s living room. Is there a way to engineer/bottle/market that? What attracted them there in the first place? Would the pub be great without them? I’m not sure. I think a great pub can’t be manufactured. They’re like folk-art and much more than the sum of their parts.
As for predictions, I see the future pub/bar/boozing world being centered on this kind of “organic” experience, venues that are unique (ie. one-offs) but also exclusive and personal. Increased wealth doesn’t just mean more champagne at Wetherspoons. Consumers are fussier and more informed. The eating/drinking locally/seasonally fashion (ushered on by the carbon-footprinting food-miles fear) is surely going to have a massive impact on the hospitality industry. The “artisan producers” culture that’s pervaded the rest of Europe for decades is slowly catching-up over here. Farmers markets are just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve been to (incredibly cool) wine bars in Italy that double as off-licenses for locally produced plonk. The micro-breweries thing in the States never seems to have taken off over here largely because of (I think) a general ignorance towards real ale. BUT, the last few years has seen real ale take off massively because of this local/seasonal awareness thing and even Wetherspoons has seasonal beer festivals now. So, all that together means the pub of the future is going to have to offer something somehow “authentic,” bespoke and “artisan”: a weird cross between a farm-shop and a private members club maybe. Probably?…or maybe my flux-capacitor is just f8cked again.
December 14th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
I can see the ‘trendy wine bar’ becoming so much the norm that in the not too distant future the new “theme Bar” will be ‘the good old fashion pub’ bar.
with no high tech cooling systems for your beer, no new eastern European lagers. just good old fashion bitters and milds. wine will be served in one measurement - glass.
even a smoke machine to accurately generate the smokey atmosphere from days of yore.
not IT Boxes, just darts & pool and maybe a deck of cards behind the bar.
like walkabout only seem to employ aussies maybe the ‘the good old fashion pub’ bar could employ only northerners.
it would be very of our time to push out the traditional proper pubs with trendy bars, only to somewhere down the line bring them back as they will be in vogue again.
not IT Boxes, just darts & pool and maybe a deck of cards behind the bar.
like walkabout only seem to employ aussies maybe the ‘the good old fashion pub’ bar could employ only northerners.
it would be very, of our time, to push out the traditional proper pubs with trendy bars, only to somewhere down the line bring them back as they will be in vogue again.
December 14th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
I’m getting all passionate about pubs now, maybe because me local opens in an hour (yipppeee!) But in response to Paul,the “good old fashioned pub” which we all obviously love, got shouldered out by the “trendy wine bar” when this country moved from manufaturing to tertiary industry. ie. you could go for a drink straight from work without being covered in coal dust or shit. Cue the plague that was/is “happy hour” and Yates’, which has gradually evolved into our 24 hour drinking culture and women with brusied thighs being sick in the streets at any given time of the day. Ah, England…
December 14th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
go and have a nose round http://www.thepublican.com
December 15th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Going to the bar can be a right pain. Just imagine the amount of pub banter you’ve missed out on throughout your life from visiting the bar, it’s not only that but you come back and the topic of conversation has changed, this can result in having to waste more valuable time bringing yourself up to speed. We already spend enough time visiting the pissers so we could do without the bar visits. I reckon a drinks/snacks ordering system would go down well. Not waiters though, flagging one down can be a tedious event and they don’t write down the drinks properly and end up missing stuff. Besides, they aren’t part of British beer drinking pup lout culture. I propose a gadget of some sort, maybe a touch screen built into the table where you simply punch in your demands and a little waiter brings you your order. It would be intelligent enough to remember your last order so you could simply press one button for a “same again” option. Maybe if you’re a regular there would be “the usual” option.
December 15th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Probs have some games in it aswell. Space Invaders, solitare for the lone drinker. The pub quiz could be answered on it rather than the paper hand-outs that always manage to find some beer to soak up. Duke box. The possibilities are endless.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Probably too topical in todays nanny state P/C world but I like to think that in the near future the smokers of the world will rekindle the old speak easy’s of the prohibition era and start smoking dens. These would be the ultimate in counter culture with bands playing in the corner through a mist of laconic smoke hanging like a lingering sigh in the stale warm air. People will sneak down alleyways to the classic slat in the door take a drag on a B&H in order to get in and normal ‘legal’ pubs will become so passe that even non smokers will blag their way in to the smoke dens.
December 18th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
i don’t smoke and don’t drink, but i love going to pubs. they’re a place to catch up with friends, chat, listen to music and hang out in. [especially pubs in europe that serve non-alcoholic beer and where they have cool juke boxes and late-night hours.]
if the pub is going to be more than a glorified off-licence then it has to become a social place that is attractive, whatever your choice of drink - a place to actually hang out (and then by virtue of that, buy more drinks). music is important - even if it’s just mtv on in the corner, having some kind of extra noise gives a place a vibe. and this 11pm closing business in the UK is just dumb - who wants to go out, only to be told to go home again in an hour. pubs having a sense of warmth is especially important in the UK, but worldwide they need to respond to climate (which sounds boring, but it’s so important). and having a safe environment matters to women a lot. we want to be able to drink (or not) without having to watch our back all the time - this doesn’t always mean having the secret service on the door, a firm publican or group of locals will do too.
on a theoretic level. interesting fodder for developing a social environment is study done on the idea of the ‘third place’ and the history of the italian ‘passegiata’ - the importance of communal social spaces in a society and what needs they actually fill.