The Session: Atmosphere

I missed the beer bloggers' monthly carnival in June. To be honest, I almost forgot about it again this time too. The designated subject matter? Atmosphere. Not the stuff that clings to the earth, scatters light and makes the sky blue. No, we're talking about the ineffable magic that lights up a local. The round-up will be posted over at Hop Talk.

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So here I am, on a hungover Friday morning, trying to write something off the top of my head. I'm hungover because I spent last night in The Jerusalem Tavern. That last Cream Stout was a mistake. Many of my friends and colleagues think it's odd that I go to the same pub every other day. Fools. I've made friends there that have enriched my life immeasurably, people I would never have met if I spent my evenings having furtive, after-work pints in anonymous chain bars.

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In Britain, we've still got community pubs in most neighbourhoods - but they are fewer than ever. I live in Clerkenwell, an area of London blessed with great places to drink. But even here, there are dead pubs wherever you look. Some have become homes, others offices or shops. A few are standing empty, patiently waiting for the bulldozers. There's no point lamenting the decline of community pubs if you never use them. The same applies to small shops, and all manner of things. So many people say London isn't friendly, that there's no sense of community anymore. If you put the same people in the friendliest place in the world, they'd retreat into themselves.

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Writing this has reminded me of a passage in Nick Hornby's last novel, A Long Way Down. I've just spent ages flicking through the book to find it. I read it on holiday, and the sun melted the glue, so all the pages keep falling out. This passage is spoken by Jess, a suicidial teenager:

"You need confidence to go into small places with regular customers, small bookshops and small music shops and small restaurants and cafes. I'm happiest in the Virgin Megastore and Borders and Starbucks and Pizza Express, where no one gives a shit, and no one knows who you are. My mum and dad are always going on about how soulless those places are, and I'm like, Der. That's the point."

I despise that attitude, I really do. It's people like that who are going around this world turning out the lights, making it a miserable place to live. The rest of us, we need to stick together, we need to support the things we like and denigrate the things we don't. Atmosphere. Even for an obsessive like me, it's not just about pubs and beer. It's about life.