Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Britain's Pubs Dying

Big surprise: two top causes are the smoking ban, and taxes on alcohol.

Link to CNN video

This may well be hailed as a good thing. Obviously, smoking and alcohol are bad for you. But, what about tradition? I once planned a trip to Britain with friends that included at least one London pub crawl, because to me, it just screamed, ENGLAND! (Sadly, the trip was scrapped due to work.)

Says British beer blogger Pete Brown, "If you took a guy from the 10th Century, and brought him forward in time, the only things he would recognize today are the churches and pubs."

So, another corner of the planet becomes more homogenized. Great.

3 comments:

varangianguard said...

This from an English friend of mine...

"well... they are closing at a faster rate than ever before, partly due to the smoking ban, high prices, credit crunch and high petrol prices meaning less cash to go around. What is really dying is the small "corner pub", for a few locals from just one or two streets, and the working mens club. They just can't face the competition from supermarkets selling very cheap alcohol and large pub chains that sell discounted food & special offer beers etc as a way to get you into the place".

I call it the Wal-Marting of England.

Bob G. said...

Well, there goes my dream night out in London for a pint of Guinness to wash down some bangers and mashed!
Bloody hell!!

(guess Amsterdam will have to do...as long as I smoke NOTHING BUT CANNABIS!)

;)

B.G.

varangianguard said...

That may be going away too, bobby g.