North/South divide
I grew up in the North. I've lived all my adult life in the South (Oxford is not in the Midlands). Read into that what you will. Judging by recent comments on this blog, it certainly winds some people up.
This evening, a couple of our regulars - bespoke tailors who work nearby - rocked up with a business associate for a pint. He stared at my handpumps in dismay and groaned out loud "oh, don't you have anything from the South? I don't drink Northern beers". Quite apart from the fact a fat Harvey's handpump was staring him in the face, we all found his attitude a tad extreme. This is a man who's taking the North/South divide too seriously.
Today's ales are Tim Taylor Landlord (West Yorkshire), Moorhouses Blond Witch (Lancashire), Mordue Workie Ticket (Tyne & Wear) and Harvey's Best (Sussex). I do tend to serve more beers from the North than the South, but that's by accident rather than by design.
21 comments:
Have been known to have a bit of regional beer snobbery occasionally but i doubt i would have missed a Landlord pump while observing 3 other "southern" beers...Its about experience, until you find that pub that does the Sussex or the 6x right you won't understand, equally until this idiot gets a good Landlord (like the one you do) he will keep missing out. In his defence (only a little) i bet a £ to a penny that in vine growing France they have a simular regional snobbery over wines....
But actual on reflection not only is that customer an snobby idiot, he also got it the wrong way round...;-)
Hmm. Sounds like a bit of a prick really. But then being ostensibly Welsh I wouldn't know about all this 'divide' malarky...
To be fair, the one thing Northerners do very well is beer. I even prefer most of them with a sparkler.
The problem I have is with the obsession with 'cost', uncouth monstrosities like Gravy and Chips served on a polestyrine tray (with no meat), the 'London aint got owt that Leeds hasn't' attitude (how many days have you spent in the Capital?), and the weather.
Some cracking national parks and open spaces up there though. Just have to avoid the gravy-soaked trays in the gutters of their towns and cities ;)
Unless its something very well known, I don't know where the beers bloody come from, I didn't know where Mordue or MoorHouse were from but have tried them. Could you maybe put a flat cap on top of all Northern beers so we know, and maybe a picture of a Whippet pissing out of a Sparkler.
On the southern ones you could have a doll of a Mockney Bespoking bollox.
Do some people think Oxford is in the Midlands? Its on the same line as St. Albans in the country and I think of that as London Overspill.
I don't care where it's brewed but I do care if it has a sparkler on - I can't stand the things.
You don't get much further South than Sydney, although one could argue Hobart or Duneden is further south (but who would want to live there?).
Hey guys, I'm in Cumbria and its not raining, again. This time of year we get more daylight as well.
"obsession with 'cost', uncouth monstrosities like Gravy and Chips served on a polestyrine tray (with no meat), the 'London aint got owt that Leeds hasn't' attitude"
You've got a point there. Several, actually.
Imagine cutting yourself from loads of cracking beers for regional reasons? Would you do that with food? Foreign muck? That's insane! What a boring mental arse that customer was.
What's the point of a north south divide if you don't police it?
I don't care where it comes from, as long as it tastes good!
I also agree that if it tastes good, who cares where it comes from. However I can perhaps see what he meant in his first sentence (apart from his lack of observational/ geographical skills)- put it another way,if I went to a decent looking pub in Tyneside for example, I'd be a bit disappointed if the beers on tap were say Spitfire, Young's Ordinary and ESB- as much as I enjoy those beers I would hope that that pub had some more local beers too such as those from the Mordue brewery. To make another analogy, if you went to Bordeaux, wouldn't you find it strange and/ or disappointing if the local hostelry only served Burgundian wines. My personal preference is for a mix of some local beers and some from further afield.
As someone from Manchester with mates in London, I've noticed an interesting thing about the North/South divide: it's almost one way. I, along with everyone else in the North West, Yorkshire and North East, think of ourselves as Northerners. People in the South howevever don't think of themselves as Southerners but as people from Oxfordshire, Essex, Hampshire, Bedfordshire. If I'm in a pub in London and there are people in from Yorkshire I think of them as fellow Northerners with whom I am 'down South'. I don't think that affinity works the other way round.
Perhaps he was just your friendly neighbourhood CAMRA LocALE representative ;-)
As a London girl who has just finished 3 years at a northern university (York to be precise), I've found that the north/south divide bothers northerners far more than it does southerners. Northerners always seemed very conscious of it, while most southerners (like myself) couldn't give a monkey's.
I do prefer northern beer - but it's a close one.
Well, having seen both sides, I can definitely confirm that the attitude Northerners have about London and the South isn't reciprocated.
It's a shame that people can't be happy with where they live (which people up North always profess to be) while also proud of the fact their national capital's the world's leading city.
On the other hand, if your first sight of London was the shitpit in front of King's Cross, you'd get a bad impression too.
[I've spent so much time over the last two days writing here that Eddie's just come up and accused me of having "the blogging mentals".]
Suzanne, York's pretty civilised - and full of good pubs.
By accident? Yeah, by accident
I'd rather have chips & gravy than pea shoots with lark's tongues in an asparagus froth.
Bloody southerners, they know nowt.
Londoners have the option of not taking any notice of the rest of the country. The rest of the country doesn't have the option of ignoring London. I think this is the reason for the apparent imbalance on how much people think about the perceived divide.
Barm, if only that were so. I find I have to go to Stansted - which is in Essex, not London - every time I want a cheap flight to Italy.
No matter whwre U studied,did job and setteled down imp. is where U was Born & Bought up never ever forget that place
SB
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