Great commentary
Recently I wrote a short post entitled "Is gastro finished?". Someone left an excellent comment a few days later. Whoever it was really hit the nail on the head. Here are the key paragraphs: "The problem with a lot of gastropubs is that they've decided to serve food no better than my local greasy spoon at restaurant prices and then make regular drinkers feel unwelcome by corraling them into a crammed standing-room-only corner of the pub. Meanwhile the rest of the pub contains a load of empty dining tables and some old battleaxe who gives a bollocking to any drinker with sore feet who dares to wander in there for a moment's sit down.
This deserves to be read by a wider audience because it sums up how the advent of better pub food has had some unfortunate side effects. The reason people want to eat in a pub rather than a restaurant is to enjoy the informal, convivial atmosphere. Walk-in trade should be welcomed. If all the tables are reserved for diners, that's not possible. Likewise, cutlery laid on empty tables screams "you must eat". It's time to put a stop to such nonsense.
"Eventually the regulars give up and piss off to a pub that serves their needs better, and the beer quality takes a slide because it's just not selling as well. So now you have an overpriced caff with beer that you're not quite sure whether to drink it or sprinkle it over your fish and chips. And the owner then complains about the smoking ban, the recession, the pubcos, the weather, or indeed anything other than the fact that they've ruined a perfectly good business by being too greedy."
12 comments:
Never a truer word, Jeff.
My local "gastropub" is of the put-a-permanent-reserved-sign-on-every-table school of thought, and even maintains a maître d' station near the door.
Good food. Good beer. But kidding itself about its status as a pub.
Hear hear. Pubs should be, in my opinion, primarily places to drink good beer in with your mates. Decent food doesn't go amiss, but it's not what gets me in the door.
I notice you have modestly omitted the final sentence of that comment Jeff ;-).
Will
Hit the nail on the head there.Alot will struggle now with the crunch.
Ps Jeffrey, you couldn't book me a table for five wednesday evening could you,someone near the window?
Carefree
Cutlery is highly over-rated in pubs, I prefer finger type food if I am going to eat in pubs. But, I also understand that there is a bigger market in higher end (restaurant quality) food in pubs.
A perfectly decent High Street boozer in the London suburb where I dwell recently changed hands and underwent a complete refurb, in which the lovely old 100-year-old engraved windows advertising a long-vanished local brewery were junked, to be replaced by NEW engraved windows; the pub name was changed gratuitously; the beer prices went up; and the menu now features beef stew at £13 a pop. Nobody goes into a pub to buy beef stew at £13 a pop. I give it six months ...
That pub is still around, and still serves Thai food. It's The Churchill Arms near to Notting Hill Gate tube. It's just been named Fullers pub of the year.
If the traditional boozer was that popular then they wouldn't be so many closing or changing to "Gastro" pubs. (I hate that term)
There is a market for higher quality food. Some get it wrong and fail, some get it very right and go from strength to strength.
It is the pubs that offer something different that will survive the crunch. Jeffrey knows that and his pub is testament.
If you can still go in and get good beer then does it matter what style of food is served? If you can't just go in and get a beer, or are made feel that you have to eat then it is no longer a pub.
Dave (Woolpack Inn) I agree with you 100%. I don't think there's anything in the paragraphs I quoted from my anonymous commenter that contradict you either.
I think we'd all agree good food in pub is a plus. No matter if it's a little pricey, as long as the quality justifies that. However, as you've said, those who just want a pint should be made welcome too.
In other news, I can't stand Lauren Laverne.
There was me agreeing 100% with what you had said, and then you spoilt it. Lauren Laverne is lovely and talented.
Ben
Lauren Laverne's only talent was for stealing people's drinks in The Ivy House and Kernickie were sh*te.
themaninthemoon - you been to the
Ivy House recently? My spies tell me the real ale has disappeared and it has a bit of a drug problem.
Such a shame - many a good after match session in there.
Post a Comment