Hello readers,
am a bit late with this as always but I am sad to announce that once again the Three Tuns on Silver Street Head in Sheffield has closed down, awaiting a new manager to be driven nearly to madness and financial ruin by pushing the boulder of pub management up the hill of unavoidable failure.
I heard about this from my friend Reason who said he had witnessed Ed's resignation speech, in which he *may have claimed that Star and Heineken still made profit from the failing pub through tax rebates and write offs and other details I have since forgotten, whilst managers struggled under the yoke of pubco imperialism.
Am so sorry for Ed, and his staff, who took on the unworkable task of running this pub out of love and devotion to regulars only to see the exercise for the unwieldy deception that it is. I genuinely thought that through his and his staff's hard wok the Tuns may return to its glory days under Reet Ale Pubs but alas that is very unlikely to happen ever again. Pubco's don't want to run pubs, except for the absolute star performers. The others are just flat or house conversions waiting to happen.
I had an interesting chat, possibly with Reason, but maybe with another human with a name, about how one could succeed running a pub or bar or venue for a pubco. The replying orator confirmed that they had chatted to a long term pub manager who advised that the best way to succeed was to not. As demonstrated by the Dog and Partridge under the stewardship of the Flynns, for whom I understand running a successful pubco pub was rewarded only with an increase in rent or other liabilities. The trick, my friend was told, is to run the pub at about even or at a minor loss, keeping you under the pubco radar so that no increases in payments are generated. In effect, assuming that is true, its actually impossible to make a good living running a pubco house. Does that not strike anyone as madness?
Of course its much less like madness if one remembers the Star Inns how to theme a pub guide which I found online when researching the Church House in 2012. Unattributable stereotypical nonsense dreamed up in a tower in la-la land by robots who have never visited earth, or met real people. Am fairly sure the link is no longer active but searching Star Inns & Bars Three Tuns Sheffield brings up a link to their page about the pub and their "Is it for me" PDf guide to running a pub with them. Well worth a look, if you can forgive there being no mention of the costs of buying all drinks through them (Ed once told me he could buy Blue Bee beers through the pubco, but only at twice the price he could from the brewery, which he was not allowed to do).
I sincerely hope somebody does take on the Three Tuns and reopens it once again as a quality boozer, so that I have somewhere to go before the Shakespeares and Bar Stewards, Dougie has somewhere permanent to do his quiz, I have somewhere I can meet A-ray, Paul-Ray, Mr Bancroft and the Professor, and so that drinkers once more have a traditional centre of town boozer to relax in and socialise.
In reality however, given its four or five closures since I started drinking there, am expecting to be writing something similar in 6 to 12 months time.
Como siempre.
Beeficus the black
*am not certain of the details of the speech. My memories tell me this was said, so you can imagine how much verisimilitude that holds.....
Showing posts with label Greedy Pubco types. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greedy Pubco types. Show all posts
Sunday, 9 September 2018
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Heavyhearted at lost local.
Hello,
almost all credit, at least in terms of inspiration, must go to Pete Green from the world of writing. His post yesterday about his nearest boozer the Olde Heavygate Inn, and its conversion into housing, against the backdrop of its venerable age, struck a real chord with me. I have written about the pub before, but I feel I need to contribute to the story further since it was my first ever, proper, local.
I should start by saying I think it closed in 2011. I posted about it in February 2012 after reading in Beer Matters that it would not reopen.
I also recall the start of 2011 saw endless upheaval and changes of managers, some of whom couldn't seem to sell beer, some of whom couldn't settle, some of whom were hired hands brought in to keep a pub open without any other long term benefits. Either way it was a sorry procession of empty promises, desperation and mismanagement on the part of the Pubco, Greedy King. Ultimately they will have made a tidy sum on the sale of the building. And pissed away a huge irreplaceable body of history into the bargain.
I went to school with a lass called Louise Parkes and she lived at the pub when her Dad Ron, ran it for absolutely years. It was a very popular pub around 1991, which is when I first started regularly going in, and continued to be so until Ron left, and for a while afterwards. Yet, its rate of decline was breathtaking, especially when you consider it could have been avoided had Pubco greed and shortsighted meddling not been allowed to prevail.
The nearest pub then was the Florist, probably 10 minutes walk, The Prinny, maybe less actually, or down to one of the South Road boozers, one of which has now gone the way of the Heavygate. So it was in a good position, surrounded by housing and virtually on one of the busiest bus routes in the city, with car parking on the front. It had history, it had character, and it had no right being neglected.
It also had the distinction of being central to several benchmarks in my drinking career.
First of all, I supped in there when I was perhaps, technically, a little bit too young to do so. I got the impression that the opinion of the landlord was, if you looked about the right age, and you didn't cause trouble that was OK. I think that is ostensibly a very sensible approach (although that may be undermined by some of what I have written later on!). The only time I ever pushed my luck was when I was 19 and brought in "younger folks" and bought them drinks. This rightly attracted a reprimand. I took it on board, and never repeated the trick.
The Heavygate was a regular venue for huge bonfires on, well, bonfire night, and so was one of the first pubs I ever remember going to as a child. I'm sure plenty of kids from my school were taken to the pub by their parents to watch that same spectacle.
There always seemed to be a good atmosphere, whether it was a celebration, public holiday or a damp Tuesday in January. It was usually busy (more so later on), the pints were served in maseev glasses that held 650ml (it seemed) and in direct contrast to the rather demure atmosphere and advanced years of some of the regulars, the jukebox featured Firestarter by Prodigy. I remember some old guy looking up from his paper when me and a mate put it on for the the 3rd time in a row, and him saying"I quite like this. Its got a very good pace to it". I swear to this day he wasn't being sarcastic.
The Heavygate was also the only pub I ever took my Canadian cousin Graham to, and advised him not to give the landlord a tip unless it was sage advice, and the first place I chose to take a lady on a date. I'm sure Catherine Skidmore was blown away by the brown decor and smell of fags and a jukebox with all of four decent tunes on, whilst I supped pints of Kimberley Classic, then in a piece de resistance, after 7 or 8 pints, threw up on my para boots whilst she waited for a taxi....
The Heavygate is also the first place I tried Sheep Dip whisky, the last place I bought a pint of Snakebite, the only place a man in his late fifties asked me for a fight (or indeed a person of any age or gender), the first place I had a lengthy session, the first place I broke a glass (when "helpfully" tidying up whilst a bit drunk) and the first pub I ever actually suggested to anyone that we went in for a few pints.
My final memory is going in one night about 21.45 with Carlos, and finding the lounge (which the CAMRA Good beer guide unfailingly stated for all of its 15 or something years of entries "features potted plants" ) was being used for a private party. There weren't many folks in the right hand side but the jukebox was working and it was no doubt about £1.40 for a pint of the Kimberley Classic, so we settled down with drinks and set about supping.
As it got late we were still getting served, not by the landlord I recall but by new staff, but by now the other right hand folks had left. Having reached a natural physical barrier (Kimberley was very bloaty I recall) we dawdled through our last drinks for an hour before the landlord came through and said "I didn't realise you two were still here!". It was about 3am. It appeared we had been served by other party guests who assumed we were friends of the family so hadn't mentioned we were there...
With such a useful training role in my drinking experience, its really sad to see it being vandalised now, after serving so many pints and customers. I don't think it had to close. I think it maybe had to change, but not in the way it did prior to finally shutting down.
My last memory, probably from April 2011, was of being in with davefromtshop, sat in the chasm of loneliness that was the sad pastel coloured modernity of the newer right hand room, staring out at an unkempt car park whilst really crap music blared out of the radio to precisely nobody, and the barman stood outside smoking. I knew then that things were not looking promising. I wasn't even surprised when it was sold for housing. Just disappointed and annoyed.
Shame on you Greedy King.
Wee Beefy
almost all credit, at least in terms of inspiration, must go to Pete Green from the world of writing. His post yesterday about his nearest boozer the Olde Heavygate Inn, and its conversion into housing, against the backdrop of its venerable age, struck a real chord with me. I have written about the pub before, but I feel I need to contribute to the story further since it was my first ever, proper, local.
I should start by saying I think it closed in 2011. I posted about it in February 2012 after reading in Beer Matters that it would not reopen.
I also recall the start of 2011 saw endless upheaval and changes of managers, some of whom couldn't seem to sell beer, some of whom couldn't settle, some of whom were hired hands brought in to keep a pub open without any other long term benefits. Either way it was a sorry procession of empty promises, desperation and mismanagement on the part of the Pubco, Greedy King. Ultimately they will have made a tidy sum on the sale of the building. And pissed away a huge irreplaceable body of history into the bargain.
I went to school with a lass called Louise Parkes and she lived at the pub when her Dad Ron, ran it for absolutely years. It was a very popular pub around 1991, which is when I first started regularly going in, and continued to be so until Ron left, and for a while afterwards. Yet, its rate of decline was breathtaking, especially when you consider it could have been avoided had Pubco greed and shortsighted meddling not been allowed to prevail.
The nearest pub then was the Florist, probably 10 minutes walk, The Prinny, maybe less actually, or down to one of the South Road boozers, one of which has now gone the way of the Heavygate. So it was in a good position, surrounded by housing and virtually on one of the busiest bus routes in the city, with car parking on the front. It had history, it had character, and it had no right being neglected.
It also had the distinction of being central to several benchmarks in my drinking career.
First of all, I supped in there when I was perhaps, technically, a little bit too young to do so. I got the impression that the opinion of the landlord was, if you looked about the right age, and you didn't cause trouble that was OK. I think that is ostensibly a very sensible approach (although that may be undermined by some of what I have written later on!). The only time I ever pushed my luck was when I was 19 and brought in "younger folks" and bought them drinks. This rightly attracted a reprimand. I took it on board, and never repeated the trick.
The Heavygate was a regular venue for huge bonfires on, well, bonfire night, and so was one of the first pubs I ever remember going to as a child. I'm sure plenty of kids from my school were taken to the pub by their parents to watch that same spectacle.
There always seemed to be a good atmosphere, whether it was a celebration, public holiday or a damp Tuesday in January. It was usually busy (more so later on), the pints were served in maseev glasses that held 650ml (it seemed) and in direct contrast to the rather demure atmosphere and advanced years of some of the regulars, the jukebox featured Firestarter by Prodigy. I remember some old guy looking up from his paper when me and a mate put it on for the the 3rd time in a row, and him saying"I quite like this. Its got a very good pace to it". I swear to this day he wasn't being sarcastic.
The Heavygate was also the only pub I ever took my Canadian cousin Graham to, and advised him not to give the landlord a tip unless it was sage advice, and the first place I chose to take a lady on a date. I'm sure Catherine Skidmore was blown away by the brown decor and smell of fags and a jukebox with all of four decent tunes on, whilst I supped pints of Kimberley Classic, then in a piece de resistance, after 7 or 8 pints, threw up on my para boots whilst she waited for a taxi....
The Heavygate is also the first place I tried Sheep Dip whisky, the last place I bought a pint of Snakebite, the only place a man in his late fifties asked me for a fight (or indeed a person of any age or gender), the first place I had a lengthy session, the first place I broke a glass (when "helpfully" tidying up whilst a bit drunk) and the first pub I ever actually suggested to anyone that we went in for a few pints.
My final memory is going in one night about 21.45 with Carlos, and finding the lounge (which the CAMRA Good beer guide unfailingly stated for all of its 15 or something years of entries "features potted plants" ) was being used for a private party. There weren't many folks in the right hand side but the jukebox was working and it was no doubt about £1.40 for a pint of the Kimberley Classic, so we settled down with drinks and set about supping.
As it got late we were still getting served, not by the landlord I recall but by new staff, but by now the other right hand folks had left. Having reached a natural physical barrier (Kimberley was very bloaty I recall) we dawdled through our last drinks for an hour before the landlord came through and said "I didn't realise you two were still here!". It was about 3am. It appeared we had been served by other party guests who assumed we were friends of the family so hadn't mentioned we were there...
With such a useful training role in my drinking experience, its really sad to see it being vandalised now, after serving so many pints and customers. I don't think it had to close. I think it maybe had to change, but not in the way it did prior to finally shutting down.
My last memory, probably from April 2011, was of being in with davefromtshop, sat in the chasm of loneliness that was the sad pastel coloured modernity of the newer right hand room, staring out at an unkempt car park whilst really crap music blared out of the radio to precisely nobody, and the barman stood outside smoking. I knew then that things were not looking promising. I wasn't even surprised when it was sold for housing. Just disappointed and annoyed.
Shame on you Greedy King.
Wee Beefy
Friday, 2 November 2012
Stuff, not to mention, things.
Evening,
I have discovered a few snippets of info about Thornbridge over the last week which I thought I might share.
Their seemingly odd and sometimes risible policy of no guest beers is not all arrogance and fear of competition it seems. A man, who is male, and works in a Thornbridge pub, informs me that certainly in the case of the Greystones and Hallamshire House, its the terms of the lease with pub ruiners Enterprise, Punch or (add unlikeable behemoth) whoever. It seems the deals, which were fairly revolutionary at the time, only included Thornbridge beers, and none of that frightening outsiders stuff.
Broadly, if the restrictive terms of the original agreement meant licensees/tenants could only buy guff like Burton brewed Stones or Tetleys at twice its market price, the same backwards outlook prevailed, except now the new tenants were at least restricted to a brewery with a range of styles. Easily a better deal for punters, but still a monopoly. You can have too much of a good thing, after all.
It seems the terms at the Cross Scythes (visits - 1 Guests - 1, promising...) are a bit more relaxed, and clearly the trading arrangements at the Sheffield Tap are radically different because Thornbridge only supply the beer, rather than own or lease the pub from a Pubco. DAda, one assumes, along with the Bath Hotel, basically continues what ever arrangements were in place already as well, its just that they are far better in terms of choice.
Alas, no clarification was forthcoming about whether these arrangements applied to Keykeg as well....
Other news now, and it turns out that moving up in the reaching the Top ten stakes for my favourite breweries of 2012 is Hop Studio, most recently at Shakespeares on Shalesmoor.
I remember being underwhelmed by their ironically hopless offerings earlier in the year but they seem to be getting better. Last night I enjoyed a pint of their Spooks (or Sparks!?) , a finely balanced stout with a pleasing smoothness that tasted stronger than its ABV suggested. Also on last night was their Blonde.
This is a 3.5% (unsurprisingly) blond coloured beer with a fantastic dry hoppy bitterness. Incredibly easy to drink but packing in as much hops as a much stronger beer that I would drink later on, this was a session beer at its best. I "only" had three pints, but it was, once again, a beer at Shakespeares that I could happily have drank until I fell asleep. Wonderful.
Meanwhile, one of Octobers star beers for me was the Abbeydale Abbey Ale, dry hopped and weighing in at 5.5%. Having tried it at Archer Road Beer Stop at the end of September I have spotted it in quite a few other pubs including twice recently at DAda. Dave's shop kept version was virtually unbeatable but the DAda offering was up there with that in terms of juicy citrussy bite. An incredibly well balanced dry hopped, but not dry tasting, fruity pale ale.
Talking of DAda for a change, and unfortunately it has been decided that the bar will not open during the day, likely opening at 16.00 but potentially still opening all day Friday and Saturday. This caveat laden reporting reflects the fact that I only found out last night and it doesn't seem like the finer points have been agreed. My suggestion would be to retain the current arrangements until after Christmas, then change them in January when far less people are likely to visit, thereby maximising the potential of the Christmas party season. But what do I know...
Recent, albeit evening or night visits, have provided an unrivalled range of Dark Star and Abbeydale and Marble brewery beers, including the amazing Dobber, as well as current Thornbridge favourites Evenlode and Halcyon. All have been on impeccable form of late.
That's all I have for now, more beer and pub news coming soon.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy.
I have discovered a few snippets of info about Thornbridge over the last week which I thought I might share.
Their seemingly odd and sometimes risible policy of no guest beers is not all arrogance and fear of competition it seems. A man, who is male, and works in a Thornbridge pub, informs me that certainly in the case of the Greystones and Hallamshire House, its the terms of the lease with pub ruiners Enterprise, Punch or (add unlikeable behemoth) whoever. It seems the deals, which were fairly revolutionary at the time, only included Thornbridge beers, and none of that frightening outsiders stuff.
Broadly, if the restrictive terms of the original agreement meant licensees/tenants could only buy guff like Burton brewed Stones or Tetleys at twice its market price, the same backwards outlook prevailed, except now the new tenants were at least restricted to a brewery with a range of styles. Easily a better deal for punters, but still a monopoly. You can have too much of a good thing, after all.
It seems the terms at the Cross Scythes (visits - 1 Guests - 1, promising...) are a bit more relaxed, and clearly the trading arrangements at the Sheffield Tap are radically different because Thornbridge only supply the beer, rather than own or lease the pub from a Pubco. DAda, one assumes, along with the Bath Hotel, basically continues what ever arrangements were in place already as well, its just that they are far better in terms of choice.
Alas, no clarification was forthcoming about whether these arrangements applied to Keykeg as well....
Other news now, and it turns out that moving up in the reaching the Top ten stakes for my favourite breweries of 2012 is Hop Studio, most recently at Shakespeares on Shalesmoor.
I remember being underwhelmed by their ironically hopless offerings earlier in the year but they seem to be getting better. Last night I enjoyed a pint of their Spooks (or Sparks!?) , a finely balanced stout with a pleasing smoothness that tasted stronger than its ABV suggested. Also on last night was their Blonde.
This is a 3.5% (unsurprisingly) blond coloured beer with a fantastic dry hoppy bitterness. Incredibly easy to drink but packing in as much hops as a much stronger beer that I would drink later on, this was a session beer at its best. I "only" had three pints, but it was, once again, a beer at Shakespeares that I could happily have drank until I fell asleep. Wonderful.
Meanwhile, one of Octobers star beers for me was the Abbeydale Abbey Ale, dry hopped and weighing in at 5.5%. Having tried it at Archer Road Beer Stop at the end of September I have spotted it in quite a few other pubs including twice recently at DAda. Dave's shop kept version was virtually unbeatable but the DAda offering was up there with that in terms of juicy citrussy bite. An incredibly well balanced dry hopped, but not dry tasting, fruity pale ale.
Talking of DAda for a change, and unfortunately it has been decided that the bar will not open during the day, likely opening at 16.00 but potentially still opening all day Friday and Saturday. This caveat laden reporting reflects the fact that I only found out last night and it doesn't seem like the finer points have been agreed. My suggestion would be to retain the current arrangements until after Christmas, then change them in January when far less people are likely to visit, thereby maximising the potential of the Christmas party season. But what do I know...
Recent, albeit evening or night visits, have provided an unrivalled range of Dark Star and Abbeydale and Marble brewery beers, including the amazing Dobber, as well as current Thornbridge favourites Evenlode and Halcyon. All have been on impeccable form of late.
That's all I have for now, more beer and pub news coming soon.
Cheers!
Wee Beefy.
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Wee Beefy's Beer Bites - pubs die why exactly?
Good evening readers, and now news of demise and why demise...
Timeline to Dissatisfaction - when did we fall out of love with the pub?
Not a reference to this blog, but a topic that came up earlier tonight. I was enjoying the redoubtable delights of bar Fatha's in furthest Westfield and and along with Wee Keefy we were doing our usual analysis of world events, whilst drinking a small amount of beer (this is not sarcasm by the way).
There was Robinsons Unicorn, which in a bottle loses some of the rather icky branding of the pump clips and may well be stronger at something akin to 4.3% - very nice too by the way.
There was also the "Morrison's Own" beer, erm, brewed by Titanic, which this time was their quirky chocolate vanilla porter, which had strong flavours of both, but the chocolate was a bit too central, i.e. it wasn't an initial burst (that was vanilla) and it didn't linger long (that was also the vanilla) Perhaps a good time for me to give chocolate stout a break for a while methinks. We also had some very palatable White Horse Brewery Rudolph's nobody cares (no beer should have Rudolph in it, thematically, or literally), which was a very nice drop despite its cartoon logo and nobbish name.
Anyhoo the main crux of the matter is an idea Wee Keefy related based on a discussion he'd had at work. Many people have a fairly strong idea about why pubs have been closing so much recently, and the antecedence of these factors means highlighting them then attributes a specific time to the event.
Broadly, I think people agree its down to the smoking ban, cheap supermarket alcohol, reductions in drink driving limits, relaxed beer import laws and a general lack of personal disposable income. In which case, this mounting storm of cataclysmic forces has been generated mainly in the last 6 or 7 years. I don't think you can disagree with any of the above, but I think I might also suggest changing attitudes to drinking and eating (which pubs on the whole have found very difficult to keep up with), real or perceived threats of trouble in many pubs, and the fact that the pub drinking public has become much more diverse, and that in trying to embody the differences therein, changes in pub style and direction have alienated many.
Assuming we have this sewn up then, what abut the idea that the decline actually started in November 1999?
The Millennium, as you may recall, was the epitome of anti climax. It was overpriced, oversubscribed, over long in build up and over in, well a second (although, strictly the millennium is in fact the whole thousand years, so it isn't over yet, but you get the idea). The thing is, in order to maximise their involvement in this frenzy pubs went a little bit stratospheric.
Huge numbers of pubs became venues and nightspots for the night. Pubs that you may have been going in for 20 years or more including every New Years eve, suddenly wanted you to pay to get in. They wanted you to have a ticket, in some absurd cases to adhere to a dress code, or you had to purchase a triple priced meal into the bargain. If you found a bar asking only a small fee and putting on entertainment you needed to be one of a lucky few to get tickets, and anyone washed up in a none paying venue was inevitably left to fish around in the their least favourite haunt for a decent beer and someone they knew who hadn't secured tickets elsewhere.
People rightly got wise to this and gave such places the cold shoulder. They planned in advance and bought booze and snacks from Supermarkets at heavily discounted prices, then stayed in on the big night watching the best fireworks man could buy, albeit on the telly, listening to the music they wanted, and, although this would not have played on their minds at the time, smoking to their hearts content. And they never forgot that night.
Meanwhile, party poppers fell in overpriced drinks, brawls and karaoke broke out (am not quite sure if one is worse than the other), taxis charged 4 times the going rate, many bars shut earlier than advertised and overall even those that got in the good places probably thought it was good for the event, rather than for the money. Below is an illustrative device depicting myself and Christingpher a trifle drunk in not exactly 2000. That's what the Millennium eve looked like to a lot of people though....
So the pubs shot themselves in the foot. They tried to price people out of a decent night out and fleeced the ones who paid over the odds to go in them. People found more enjoyable and affordable alternatives, and then over the next few years when prices started to rise, the smoking ban was introduced, the drink drive limit reduced further, and supermarket booze got even cheaper, they no longer trusted the pubs, and many probably felt they no longer deserved their loyalty. So more and more people started to make alternative arrangements for more and more occasions, and soon for everyday nights.
What I like about this idea, not that I am necessarily saying its the the best explanation out there, is that it demonstrates a plausible and recuontable time line of pub dissatisfaction. And at the very start of that decline is greedy pubs. Now where can we see this menacing spectre starting to appear more and more these days.... ?
Pub Company News
Earlier the W's also noted that, according to once exemplary beer magazine Beer Matters, (that spirited old hairy man no longer seems to be printed in there, not the same since) the Old Heavygate Inn on Matlock Road at Crookes has been granted permission for conversion into residential use. Time methinks to tell you a smidgen about the Heavygate.
When I was at school, a lass I knew lived at the pub. Her Dad Ron kept the pub for 127 years - or similar. She was the first person I remember telling me about a pub, and although I didn't really recall or indeed properly understand most of what she was describing, I can vividly recall the immense kudos that this address afforded her.
When I needed to learn how to go to the pub and handle my carefully chosen real ale, at the age of, erm, you know, 17 and 3 quarters, I went there. It was possible to go in and drink, even if mild concerns existed about your vintage, as long as you were polite and largely quiet and didn't cause a problem, like drinking 6 pints of bitter and a snakebite and then throwing up on your shoes outside. Which I only did once, for the record. Sorry Cath....
There was also a well deserved reputation for a late drink and a lock in from time to time, marshaled expertly by the staff on the basis of etiquette - yes, you could come in at 10pm and reorder after last orders, but no, you couldn't waltz in off the 52 at 25 to midnight and try the same.
There was one long, more modern room on the right as you entered in the centre of the pub, but that would have been the right hand corner of the original very old building. Though this was a recent addition, with fixed seating and a big window at one end where the jukebox was, it was still full of regulars of all ages, and a doughty cabninet behind the bar selling traditional spirits miniatures like Sheepdip Whisky, which I don't think I have ever tried, but which made me think it must be a connoisseurs drop...
There was Kimberley Best and Kimberley Classic on handpump as well as the usual suspects for lager and cider, all served in seemingly ginormous oversize glasses. Up the steps on the left was a much older and more traditional Lounge, where the more venerable characters sat, which also had a jukebox, curiously I seem to think it was different, but I may have imagined this. For untold years, the CAMRA Good Beer Guide listed the pub, with the now legendary unchanging line "the lounge features potted plants", a description so scathingly innocuous as to make youi think you may have walked into a building that was otherwise almost entirely white and bereft of decoration or ephemera.
Pubmageddon
All good things come to an end of course and Ron packed it in many years ago, a succession of managers followed, and I have to say I probably didn't visit at this time. I did however start taking an interest during my "Walkley Renaissance" period in February and March last year, when it briefly reopened, allowing me two visits and Davefromtshop 1 visit before it creaked to an undignified end again.
Interestingly, I understand that the person running the Dog and Partridge whilst it sinks into certain irretrievable oblivion was offered the dizzying chance to run the Heavygate, as I rather lamely and without detail tried to hint at in one of my least successful rumour mill posts. I wonder then if the pub company responsible for the heinous crime of letting a thriving community pub die on its knees (bearing in mind pubmageddon blandification experts Greedy King will have been involved in shafting the Heavygate at some point) is the same one throwing away the keys to the venerable Dog and Partridge, with its rare multi-roomed interior and fascinating rooms and history?
I bet you a tidy sum it is. Its imaginable that, assuming the permission is not withdrawn, one boardroom of money grabbing execs who have never run a pub in their life will have condemned a 16th century former toll house and an amazingly intatct city centre institution to death, for the sake of a quick profit, because through their meddling and outrageous ureasonable demands, no-one could turn round the venue's fortunes in 30 days (insert arbitrary number as required) and meet their exorbitant targets.
What a disaster for Sheffield's pubs that would be. And what a sad reflection on the moral outlook of pub companies in this case that they lacked the imagination and flexibility to save what were two, albeit different, well run profitable businesses.
So what was I saying about greed in the pub business again?
Wee Beefy
Timeline to Dissatisfaction - when did we fall out of love with the pub?
Not a reference to this blog, but a topic that came up earlier tonight. I was enjoying the redoubtable delights of bar Fatha's in furthest Westfield and and along with Wee Keefy we were doing our usual analysis of world events, whilst drinking a small amount of beer (this is not sarcasm by the way).
There was Robinsons Unicorn, which in a bottle loses some of the rather icky branding of the pump clips and may well be stronger at something akin to 4.3% - very nice too by the way.
There was also the "Morrison's Own" beer, erm, brewed by Titanic, which this time was their quirky chocolate vanilla porter, which had strong flavours of both, but the chocolate was a bit too central, i.e. it wasn't an initial burst (that was vanilla) and it didn't linger long (that was also the vanilla) Perhaps a good time for me to give chocolate stout a break for a while methinks. We also had some very palatable White Horse Brewery Rudolph's nobody cares (no beer should have Rudolph in it, thematically, or literally), which was a very nice drop despite its cartoon logo and nobbish name.
Anyhoo the main crux of the matter is an idea Wee Keefy related based on a discussion he'd had at work. Many people have a fairly strong idea about why pubs have been closing so much recently, and the antecedence of these factors means highlighting them then attributes a specific time to the event.
Broadly, I think people agree its down to the smoking ban, cheap supermarket alcohol, reductions in drink driving limits, relaxed beer import laws and a general lack of personal disposable income. In which case, this mounting storm of cataclysmic forces has been generated mainly in the last 6 or 7 years. I don't think you can disagree with any of the above, but I think I might also suggest changing attitudes to drinking and eating (which pubs on the whole have found very difficult to keep up with), real or perceived threats of trouble in many pubs, and the fact that the pub drinking public has become much more diverse, and that in trying to embody the differences therein, changes in pub style and direction have alienated many.
Assuming we have this sewn up then, what abut the idea that the decline actually started in November 1999?
The Millennium, as you may recall, was the epitome of anti climax. It was overpriced, oversubscribed, over long in build up and over in, well a second (although, strictly the millennium is in fact the whole thousand years, so it isn't over yet, but you get the idea). The thing is, in order to maximise their involvement in this frenzy pubs went a little bit stratospheric.
Huge numbers of pubs became venues and nightspots for the night. Pubs that you may have been going in for 20 years or more including every New Years eve, suddenly wanted you to pay to get in. They wanted you to have a ticket, in some absurd cases to adhere to a dress code, or you had to purchase a triple priced meal into the bargain. If you found a bar asking only a small fee and putting on entertainment you needed to be one of a lucky few to get tickets, and anyone washed up in a none paying venue was inevitably left to fish around in the their least favourite haunt for a decent beer and someone they knew who hadn't secured tickets elsewhere.
People rightly got wise to this and gave such places the cold shoulder. They planned in advance and bought booze and snacks from Supermarkets at heavily discounted prices, then stayed in on the big night watching the best fireworks man could buy, albeit on the telly, listening to the music they wanted, and, although this would not have played on their minds at the time, smoking to their hearts content. And they never forgot that night.
Meanwhile, party poppers fell in overpriced drinks, brawls and karaoke broke out (am not quite sure if one is worse than the other), taxis charged 4 times the going rate, many bars shut earlier than advertised and overall even those that got in the good places probably thought it was good for the event, rather than for the money. Below is an illustrative device depicting myself and Christingpher a trifle drunk in not exactly 2000. That's what the Millennium eve looked like to a lot of people though....
So the pubs shot themselves in the foot. They tried to price people out of a decent night out and fleeced the ones who paid over the odds to go in them. People found more enjoyable and affordable alternatives, and then over the next few years when prices started to rise, the smoking ban was introduced, the drink drive limit reduced further, and supermarket booze got even cheaper, they no longer trusted the pubs, and many probably felt they no longer deserved their loyalty. So more and more people started to make alternative arrangements for more and more occasions, and soon for everyday nights.
What I like about this idea, not that I am necessarily saying its the the best explanation out there, is that it demonstrates a plausible and recuontable time line of pub dissatisfaction. And at the very start of that decline is greedy pubs. Now where can we see this menacing spectre starting to appear more and more these days.... ?
Pub Company News
Earlier the W's also noted that, according to once exemplary beer magazine Beer Matters, (that spirited old hairy man no longer seems to be printed in there, not the same since) the Old Heavygate Inn on Matlock Road at Crookes has been granted permission for conversion into residential use. Time methinks to tell you a smidgen about the Heavygate.
When I was at school, a lass I knew lived at the pub. Her Dad Ron kept the pub for 127 years - or similar. She was the first person I remember telling me about a pub, and although I didn't really recall or indeed properly understand most of what she was describing, I can vividly recall the immense kudos that this address afforded her.
When I needed to learn how to go to the pub and handle my carefully chosen real ale, at the age of, erm, you know, 17 and 3 quarters, I went there. It was possible to go in and drink, even if mild concerns existed about your vintage, as long as you were polite and largely quiet and didn't cause a problem, like drinking 6 pints of bitter and a snakebite and then throwing up on your shoes outside. Which I only did once, for the record. Sorry Cath....
There was also a well deserved reputation for a late drink and a lock in from time to time, marshaled expertly by the staff on the basis of etiquette - yes, you could come in at 10pm and reorder after last orders, but no, you couldn't waltz in off the 52 at 25 to midnight and try the same.
There was one long, more modern room on the right as you entered in the centre of the pub, but that would have been the right hand corner of the original very old building. Though this was a recent addition, with fixed seating and a big window at one end where the jukebox was, it was still full of regulars of all ages, and a doughty cabninet behind the bar selling traditional spirits miniatures like Sheepdip Whisky, which I don't think I have ever tried, but which made me think it must be a connoisseurs drop...
There was Kimberley Best and Kimberley Classic on handpump as well as the usual suspects for lager and cider, all served in seemingly ginormous oversize glasses. Up the steps on the left was a much older and more traditional Lounge, where the more venerable characters sat, which also had a jukebox, curiously I seem to think it was different, but I may have imagined this. For untold years, the CAMRA Good Beer Guide listed the pub, with the now legendary unchanging line "the lounge features potted plants", a description so scathingly innocuous as to make youi think you may have walked into a building that was otherwise almost entirely white and bereft of decoration or ephemera.
Pubmageddon
All good things come to an end of course and Ron packed it in many years ago, a succession of managers followed, and I have to say I probably didn't visit at this time. I did however start taking an interest during my "Walkley Renaissance" period in February and March last year, when it briefly reopened, allowing me two visits and Davefromtshop 1 visit before it creaked to an undignified end again.
Interestingly, I understand that the person running the Dog and Partridge whilst it sinks into certain irretrievable oblivion was offered the dizzying chance to run the Heavygate, as I rather lamely and without detail tried to hint at in one of my least successful rumour mill posts. I wonder then if the pub company responsible for the heinous crime of letting a thriving community pub die on its knees (bearing in mind pubmageddon blandification experts Greedy King will have been involved in shafting the Heavygate at some point) is the same one throwing away the keys to the venerable Dog and Partridge, with its rare multi-roomed interior and fascinating rooms and history?
I bet you a tidy sum it is. Its imaginable that, assuming the permission is not withdrawn, one boardroom of money grabbing execs who have never run a pub in their life will have condemned a 16th century former toll house and an amazingly intatct city centre institution to death, for the sake of a quick profit, because through their meddling and outrageous ureasonable demands, no-one could turn round the venue's fortunes in 30 days (insert arbitrary number as required) and meet their exorbitant targets.
What a disaster for Sheffield's pubs that would be. And what a sad reflection on the moral outlook of pub companies in this case that they lacked the imagination and flexibility to save what were two, albeit different, well run profitable businesses.
So what was I saying about greed in the pub business again?
Wee Beefy
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