I want to talk about Pubs
Dec 6th 2007, 8:12 am
#46
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Joined: Nov 2002
Location: Eastern Ontario, Canada
Posts: 2,062
Re: I want to talk about Pubs
Sorry to have to say this and it is a first for me, but you Mr.Flashy are talking out of your a**e. Broad generalisations are a sign of ignorance and unwillingness to listen and learn. Total narrow mindedness from someone who spent almost every night of the week with people who 'babble the same old crap'.
I have experenced the Brit pub culture and there's better things to do in life.
Last edited by flashman; Dec 6th 2007 at 8:23 am.
Dec 6th 2007, 8:49 am
#47
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2007
Location: Queensland Australia
Posts: 612
Re: I want to talk about Pubs
Now I know why I never went to Canada. 
Dec 6th 2007, 10:06 am
#48
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: Hill overlooking the SE Melbourne suburbs
Posts: 16,622
Re: I want to talk about Pubs
The "local" - ie the pub most local to where you live, or the one which you frequent the most often with your mates (or family or whoever) is the very focal point of practically all the social life of the majority of people here in the UK. Pubs vary in character and many cater for families with restaurants and bars that suit families with young kids. Others have facilities for those into playing darts, pool, snooker or to watching live sport on big plasmas, mostly in the public bars. People go to pubs to meet people (either people they know or people they are meeting for the first time) and the atmosphere is entirely social, but some people choose to go to pubs to discuss business or to sort out problems or whatever while having a meal and a drink (or two or three....) In some pubs you can order and pay for meals at the bar, then choose your seats and table and the food will be brought to you direct from the kitchen. Menus in many bars vary a lot and some have the day's specials chalked up on a big blackboard or in some other prominent place as well as on individual menus on the tables. Or you can go through to a restaurant separate from the bars and order at table and then pay up for the lot at the end of the meal.
Bars vary a lot in character - some have loud ear splitting techno music with all the games machines, most have different kinds of entertainment evenings with a whole range of music and singing, some have quiz nights with teams forming leagues, some are quiet and secluded and in winter with roaring real log fireplaces where people can chat and enjoy themselves in relative peace. The very essence of the British pub scene is a social atmosphere (either very relaxed or frenetic, depending on the pub bar) and as I say is the main focal point of all kinds of communities, from wee villages to large city centres. Most pubs have gardens where in summer you can sit outside (weather permitting) and eat and drink. Some pubs are very small and cosy, and some are massive with car parks the size of a footie ground.
You will be very hard pressed to find any community in the UK without a pub..or two...or three or four or more. Norwich city area in Norfolk, England, has 365! And 52 churches and one cathedral, strangely enough, so they have their priorities sorted out there!
There is not a TV soap in the UK in which much of the action doesn't take place in the "local" pub - 60% on average of the time of each episode is spent in the pub - The Rovers Return in Corrie (Coronation Street), the Wheatsheaf in Emmerdale, the Queen Vic in Eastenders and whatever that pub is called in Hollyoaks, just for starters. Without the pub the soaps would fizzle out.
British pubs can have the strangest of names - apart from run of the mill King's Heads, Queen's Arms, the Dog and Ducks, the Greyhounds (often near a race track), The Red Lions, the Duke of Yorks and the Saracen's Heads and the Pig and Whistles, there are the Slug and Lettuce, the Quiet Woman, the Hole in the Wall, The Poosie Nansie's, The Inn Next Door Burnt Down, The Round of Carrots, The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn, The Cat and Custard Pot, The Podgy Pooch, The Muscular Arms, The Jolly Taxpayer, The Leg of Mutton and Cauliflower Inn, The World Turned Upside Down, the Bull and Bladder and the Nobody's Inn.
Without the local pub social life in Britain would collapse. Cheers!
Bars vary a lot in character - some have loud ear splitting techno music with all the games machines, most have different kinds of entertainment evenings with a whole range of music and singing, some have quiz nights with teams forming leagues, some are quiet and secluded and in winter with roaring real log fireplaces where people can chat and enjoy themselves in relative peace. The very essence of the British pub scene is a social atmosphere (either very relaxed or frenetic, depending on the pub bar) and as I say is the main focal point of all kinds of communities, from wee villages to large city centres. Most pubs have gardens where in summer you can sit outside (weather permitting) and eat and drink. Some pubs are very small and cosy, and some are massive with car parks the size of a footie ground.
You will be very hard pressed to find any community in the UK without a pub..or two...or three or four or more. Norwich city area in Norfolk, England, has 365! And 52 churches and one cathedral, strangely enough, so they have their priorities sorted out there!
There is not a TV soap in the UK in which much of the action doesn't take place in the "local" pub - 60% on average of the time of each episode is spent in the pub - The Rovers Return in Corrie (Coronation Street), the Wheatsheaf in Emmerdale, the Queen Vic in Eastenders and whatever that pub is called in Hollyoaks, just for starters. Without the pub the soaps would fizzle out.
British pubs can have the strangest of names - apart from run of the mill King's Heads, Queen's Arms, the Dog and Ducks, the Greyhounds (often near a race track), The Red Lions, the Duke of Yorks and the Saracen's Heads and the Pig and Whistles, there are the Slug and Lettuce, the Quiet Woman, the Hole in the Wall, The Poosie Nansie's, The Inn Next Door Burnt Down, The Round of Carrots, The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn, The Cat and Custard Pot, The Podgy Pooch, The Muscular Arms, The Jolly Taxpayer, The Leg of Mutton and Cauliflower Inn, The World Turned Upside Down, the Bull and Bladder and the Nobody's Inn.
Without the local pub social life in Britain would collapse. Cheers!
get it into Wikipedia!!
<slips out>
Dec 6th 2007, 10:37 am
#49
'In limboland'
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 13,880
Re: I want to talk about Pubs
Don't bother either, it's THE most boring place I've ever been to.
Dec 6th 2007, 11:52 am
#50
Banned
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 13
Re: I want to talk about Pubs
the ol british pub, ok where do you want me start.
Absolutely great, for a one now and again, I can understand why everyone misses them, but its not all that, you cant eat them and dont live in them,
my question is, is it that bigger of a deal, something that costs you a forune, intoxicates you surely there is something better to be doing in your lifes.
Absolutely great, for a one now and again, I can understand why everyone misses them, but its not all that, you cant eat them and dont live in them,
my question is, is it that bigger of a deal, something that costs you a forune, intoxicates you surely there is something better to be doing in your lifes.
Dec 6th 2007, 12:59 pm
#51
Thinking the unthinkable.
Joined: Mar 2005
Location: Guelph, Ontario
Posts: 2,136
Re: I want to talk about Pubs
Not at all and I hardly drink, just wine with meals. I am sociable, have friends round for dinner, (often,love to cook) and never have a problem finding something decent to chat about. Certainly wouldn't have to go to a pub 6 nights a week, ALL night to drink and then complain about the company I kept.
Don't bother either, it's THE most boring place I've ever been to.
Don't bother either, it's THE most boring place I've ever been to.
Dec 6th 2007, 2:49 pm
#52
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Dec 6th 2007, 3:09 pm
#53
Tea Drinker
Joined: Nov 2006
Location: Kamloops, BC
Posts: 5,387
Re: I want to talk about Pubs
Don't bother either, it's THE most boring place I've ever been to
Dec 6th 2007, 3:25 pm
#54
Bendy Bully
Joined: Feb 2005
Location: It's the wrong answer, and there's a light on.
Posts: 281
Re: I want to talk about Pubs
Well I'd vote "nowhere", but you already have done - 3rd page, post #45. 
Agree with all that. I love UK pubs and missed them badly - I like the whole social aspect of it, and the old ones that date back hundreds of years can't be beat. Coming into your favourite one after walking through the cold for a proper pint, with a real fire going - ace!
Dec 6th 2007, 10:04 pm
#55
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Thread Starter
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Re: I want to talk about Pubs
Dec 6th 2007, 11:31 pm
#56
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Joined: May 2007
Location: England
Posts: 4,211
Re: I want to talk about Pubs
Jackie who likes coffee.....
Dec 6th 2007, 11:40 pm
#57
Banned
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 13
Re: I want to talk about Pubs
life is all about sacrifices.
Now do you sacrifice a great outdoor life of say 30% of your spare time. to
spend 2% of your spare time sat in a pub and the other 28% sat in watching tv or surfing the internet
think about the weather options etc,
smas is great here, nice and damp wet miserable, oh lovely pub around the corner tonight , had a couple of beers, good convo for a while.......
Now do you sacrifice a great outdoor life of say 30% of your spare time. to
spend 2% of your spare time sat in a pub and the other 28% sat in watching tv or surfing the internet
think about the weather options etc,
smas is great here, nice and damp wet miserable, oh lovely pub around the corner tonight , had a couple of beers, good convo for a while.......
Dec 7th 2007, 1:20 am
#60
'In limboland'
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 13,880
Re: I want to talk about Pubs
Actually I have, many times. My eldest brother lives in Weston Favell, Northants. and was an engineer on the MK railway while it was being built, so we were there for the 'Grand Opening Ceremony'. We've also taken our son ( when he was small) to see the fantastic Xmas scenes they used to do quite afew times too. I have an uncle and two cousins who live close by in Shenley Church End. I should have said country and not 'place' shouldn't I.
Calgary.
Calgary.